,tj^ 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


THE 

TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS 
OF    SCIENCE 


ADAPTED   TO 


THE  USE  OF  TEACHERS   AND   PUPILS   IN 
THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 


BY 


A.    B.    PALMER,    M.D.,    LL.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  PATHOLOGY,  PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE,  AND  CLIN- 
ICAL MEDICINE,  IN  THE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 
AND  SURGERY,  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  MICHIGAN. 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 


MARY    A.    LIVERMORE 


BOSTON 

D.    C.    HEATH    &   CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
1886 


OFTH.: 
UNIVERSITY 

OF 


Copyright,  1886, 

by 
D.    LOTHROP  &   COMPANY. 


NOTE. 

THROUGHOUT  this  volume  no  opinions  have  been  ex- 
pressed as  to  the  particular  methods  of  what  is  called 
"Temperance  Work."  Nothing  has  been  said  as  to  the 
propriety  or  efficacy  of  pledges,  moral  suasion,  political  agi- 
tation, or  legislative  enactments.  Important  questions  are 
connected  with  these  subjects,  but  the  sole  object  has  been 
to  bring  all,  and  especially  young  people,  who  may  honor 
this  little  book  with  a  perusal,  to  the  rational  conclusion 
and  firm  resolve,  that  in  whatever  form,  as  an  article  of 
"diet,"  of  luxury,  or  as  a  beverage,  alcohol  is  harmful ;  is 
useless  ;  we  will  not  take  it. 


165036 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

INTRODUCTION.     The  Need  of  Knowing  the 

Facts 5 

I.     Half  a  Century's  Study  of  the  Ques- 
tion          15 

II.     The  Production  of  Alcohol  and  the 

Composition  of  Alcoholic  Liquors         2 1 

III.  The  Parts  and  Qualities  of  the  Hu- 

man System        .         .         .         .         32 

IV.  The   Effects  of  Alcohol  upon  the 

Stomach     .....         42 

V.     The  Action  of  Alcoholics  upon  the 

Liver  .         .         .         .         .         51 

VI.     The   Action  of  Alcohol  upon  the 

Lungs         .         .         .         ...         62 

VII.     The  Action  of  Alcoholics  upon  the 

Heart  73 

VIII.     The   Effects  of  Alcohol  upon  the 

Kidneys 87 

IX.     The  Nervous  System  and  Narcotics         95 


4  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

X.     The  Action  of  Alcohol  upon  tthe 

Brain,  Spinal  Cord  and  Nerves  .       105 
XL     The  Action  of   Alcohol   upon  the 

Brain,  and  Nervous  System  (con.}       117 
XII.     Further    Influence    of    Alcoholics 

upon  the  Brain           .         .         .       130 
Appendix 143 


INTRODUCTION. 


BY  MARY  A.  LIVERMORE. 


THE    NEED   OF    KNOWING   THE    FACTS. 

LESS  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  our  na- 
tion was  in  the  agony  of  a  protracted  san- 
guinary conflict.  To-day,  we  speak  of  it  as  "  The 
War  of  the  Rebellion."  For  four  years  the  people 
of  the  North  and  South  were  arrayed  against  each 
other  in  deadly  hostilities.  And  not  until  hundreds 
of  thousands  had  been  slain  on  battle-fields,  or  had 
died  in  hospitals,  was  peace  declared.  During  this 
war,  "  recruiting  offices  "  were  opened  in  all  the 
large  towns  and  cities  of  the  country,  where  men 
were  enlisted  as  soldiers.  For  soldiers  were  in 
continual  demand,  not  only  to  augment  the  army, 
5 


O  INTRODUCTION. 

but  to  make  up  for  the  losses  incurred  on  battle- 
fields, and  in  hospitals. 

Not  only  did  the  country  need  a  large  army,  it 
needed  an  army  of  strong,  sound,  healthy  men.  So 
when  a  man  had  "  enlisted,"  he  was  sent  from  the 
recruiting  office  to  the  "examining  surgeon,"  to 
undergo  rigid  bodily  inspection.  If  the  surgeon 
found  disease  in  the  heart,  or  lungs,  or  brain,  or  in 
any  part  of  the  body,  if  the  enlisted  man  had  defects 
of  vision,  or  hearing,  if  he  had  lost  a  front  tooth,  and 
could  not  bite  off  the  end  of  a  cartridge,  or  a  right 
thumb,  and  could  not  cover  the  vent-hole  of  a  can- 
non, if  he  was  maimed,  deformed,  defective  or  un- 
sound in  body,  the  Government  refused  to  accept 
him  as  a  soldier.  He  could  not  be  "  mustered  in." 
For  the  business  of  war  requires  the  highest  bodily 
efficiency,  and  feeble  or  crippled  men  are  not  equal 
to  its  tremendous  demands. 

Every  young  man  and  maiden  of  our  country  is 
on  the  verge  of  a  longer  and  more  important  con- 
flict than  were  the  soldiers  of  the  War  of  the  Re- 
bellion. For  the  world  is  a  vast  encampment,  and 
every  human  being  is  a  soldier,  drafted  for  service. 


THE    NEED    OF    KNOWING    THE    FACTS.  7 

No  substitute  can  take  another's  place,  nor  can  a 
discharge  be  obtained  from  the  battle  of  life,  till 
God  grants  it  at  death.  "  War  a  good  warfare  !  "  is 
the  order  that  rings  down  the  ranks  from  the  great 
Captain  who  commands  these  hosts. 

Even  more  important  to  success  are  bodily 
strength  and  efficiency  in  the  battle  of  life,  where 
all  do  service,  than  they  were  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  where  only  a  million  were  mustered  in. 
For  a  good  physical  condition  is  one  of  the  great 
pre-requisites  to  successful  living.  To  live  worth- 
ily or  happily,  to  accomplish  much  for  one's  self 
or  others,  when  suffering  from  disease  and  pain,  is 
attended  with  great  difficulty.  The  very  morals 
suffer  from  disease  of  the  body.  "  Every  sick  man 
is  a  rascal,"  said  the  great  Doctor  Johnson. 

The  importance  of  physical  education  to  the 
young  cannot  be  unduly  emphasized.  For  out  of 
the  schoolroom  of  to-day  are  to  come  the  skilled 
workmen  and  women  of  the  next  generation  —  the 
physicians,  clergy,  lawyers,  judges,  legislators,  mer- 
chants, manufacturers  and  navigators  —  all  who  are 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  world. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Civilization  has  already  outrun  the  bodies  of  men 
and  women.  Its  complicated  work  taxes  body  and 
brain  almost  beyond  endurance.  In  addition,  the 
self-indulgence  of  the  age  is  so  general  and  waste- 
ful that  it  creates  physical  degeneracy,  and  mental 
imbecility.  It  crowds  the  hospitals,  peoples  the 
asylums,  increases  the  tenants  of  almshouses,  fills 
the  prisons,  empties  the  churches,  dethrones  man- 
hood, and  brutalizes  alike  the  rich  and  poor.  I  al- 
lude to  the  indulgence  in  intoxicating  drinks.  All 
the  while,  the  severity  of  the  struggle  for  life  in- 
creases, and  the  difficulties  of  earning  a  livelihood 
grow  intenser  with  every  generation.  What  is  to 
be  done  ? 

The  young  must  be  taught  the  hygiene  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks.  It  must  enter  into  their  school  edu- 
cation. They  must  be  carefully  instructed  in  the 
damaging  physiological  results  of  indulgence  in  the 
cider,  beer  and  wine,  so  largely  used  as  beverages, 
and  which,  in  the  main,  become  as  destructive  as 
the  stronger  alcoholic  liquors.  They  must  be  trained 
to  maintain  serene  dominion  over  appetite  —  to 
lead  lives  of  wholesomeness  —  to  practice  rigid 


THE    NEED    OF    KNOWING    THE    FACTS.  9 

total  abstinence  from  all  that  can  intoxicate. 
Plato  laid  down  the  rule  that  boys  must  not  taste 
wine  until  they  were  eighteen  years  old.  The 
early  Romans  forbade  its  use  till  a  man  had  reached 
the  age  of  thirty.  The  Spartans  denied  intoxicating 
drinks  to  their  sons,  and  compelled  their  slaves  — 
the  Helots  —  to  get  drunk  in  presence  of  their 
young  men,  that  they  might  witness  the  degrada- 
tion of  drunkenness.  Their  great  aim  was  to  de- 
velop a  superb  physical  manhood. 

Science  to-day  teaches  that  alcohol  is  not  only 
not  a  food,  but  a  poison.  When  we  say  a  man  is 
"  intoxicated,"  we  simply  say  that  he  is  poisoned. 
For  our  word  "  intoxicate  "  comes  from  the  Latin 
word  "  toxicum,"  which  means  poison.  From  this 
we  have  the  word  "  toxicology,"  which  is  the  science 
that  treats  of  poisons.  If  one  takes  into  the  stom- 
ach meat,  bread,  potatoes,  or  other  food,  it  is  di- 
gested, and  converted  into  muscle,  brain,  bone,  or 
some  other  part  of  the  body.  Thus  by  food  the 
waste  of  the  human  system  is  repaired,  which  is 
occasioned  by  the  work  of  life.  But  when  alcohol 
is  taken  into  the  stomach,  that  organ  resents  its 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

intrusion,  and  drives  it  into  the  liver,  which,  in  turn, 
forces  it  to  the  heart,  and  that  throws  it  into  the 
lungs  —  and  so  it  goes  on,  in  its  unwelcome  and 
compulsory  tour  through  the  body.  Every  organ 
rejects  and  expels  it,  the  liver,  bowels,  kidneys, 
lungs  and  skin  all  throwing  out  a  portion  of  it,  un- 
til the  system  is  rid  of  it.  In  this  process  of  ex- 
pulsion, every  organ,  by  and  by,  becomes  seriously 
damaged. 

At  last,  both  body  and  mind  are  ruined.  The 
perceptions  are  bewildered,  the  memory  weakened, 
the  reasoning  power  clouded,  the  moral  sense  be- 
numbed, the  will  dethroned,  the  self-respect  dead, 
and  there  is  no  vice  or  crime  to  which  the  victim 
is  not  liable.  A  terrible  dipsomania  is  established, 
when  there  is  only  an  insatiate  craving  for  alcohol, 
that  knows  no  bounds,  and  for  which  there  is 
rarely  any  cure. 

When  to  the  wreck  of  the  individual  are  added 
the  appalling  facts  that  four  fifths  of  all  the  crimi- 
nals in  the  prisons,  four  fifths  of  all  the  paupers 
in  the  almshouses,  three  fifths  of  the  insane  in 
asylums,  and  one  half  of  the  idiots  are  the  direct 


THE    NEED    OF    KNOWING    THE    FACTS.  II 

products  of  strong  drink,  how  ghastly  is  the  record  ! 
Ought  not  these  facts  to  constitute  a  powerful 
array  of  reasons  why  the  youth  of  to-day  should 
vow  in  high  honor  absolute  and  life-long  aloofness 
from  all  that  can  intoxicate  ? 


THE    TEMPERANCE    TEACH- 
INGS  OF  SCIENCE. 


THE   TEMPERANCE   TEACH- 
INGS    OF   SCIENCE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HALF  A  CENTURY'S  STUDY  OF  THE  QUESTION. 

I  HAVE  been  requested  to  state  to  the  young 
people  of  our  country  some  things  that  I  know, 
and  that  many  of  them  may  not,  respecting  the 
drinks  called  spirituous  and  fermented  liquors,  that 
many  people  use.  It  is  thought  by  good  and  wise 
men  and  women,  that  young  persons  should  be  in- 
structed about  these  liquors,  because  through  ig- 
norance of  their  nature  and  effects  multitudes 
begin  to  drink  them,  and  acquire  a  love  for  them, 
which  goes  on  increasing  the  more  they  are 
used,  until  very  great  injury  is  done  to  the 
bodies,  minds,  and  character  of  those  who  take 
them;  a  great  deal  of  poverty,  distress  and  mis- 
ery is  produced  in  families,  neighborhoods  and 
towns,  many  crimes  are  committed,  and  a  vast 

amount  of  evil  of  different  kinds  is  spread  over 

'5 


1 6  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

the  whole  country,  and  a  large  part  of  the  world. 
It  is  important  that  young  persons  should  have 
correct  views  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  their  wel- 
fare, their  happiness  and  usefulness  in  after  life. 
In  my  own  case,  strong  impressions  were  made 
upon  my  mind  respecting  these  drinks  when  I  was 
a  small  boy,  and  these  impressions  have  had  an  in- 
fluence upon  my  whole  long  life.  In  the  first  years 
of  my  going  to  school  in  the  country  town  where  I 
was  born,  now  a  favorite  summer  resort  in  the  in- 
terior of  New  York,  I  passed  by  a  house  where  a 
man  lived  who  was  frequently  drunk.  When  so, 
he  was  apt  to  be  boisterous,  staggering  about  and 
abusing  his  poor,  heart-broken  wife.  Whenever  I 
saw  him,  or  heard  him,  in  that  condition,  I  was 
terribly  frightened,  and  hurried  past  the  place  as 
fast  as  I  could.  In  a  few  years  after  my  first  re- 
membrance of  these  frights  the  poor  wife  died, 
when  her  husband  gave  himself  entirely  up  to 
drinking.  In  a  dark,  rainy  night  after  drinking 
freely  at  one  country  tavern,  he  was  sent  out,  and 
was  going  to  another.  On  his  way  he  fell  down  by 
the  side  of  a  little  ditch,  and  apparently,  in  his  at- 


HALF  A  CENTURY'S  STUDY  OF  THE  QUESTION.   17 

tempt  to  get  up,  he  fell  over  upon  his  back  in  the 
narrow  ditch,  in  which,  from  the  rain,  water  was 
running.  Owing  to  the  weakness  produced  by  in- 
toxication, he  was  unable  to  rise ;  and  his  body 
damming  up  the  stream,  the  water  ran  over  his 
head,  and  he  was  drowned.  The  next  day  his  body 
was  found,  and  as  there  was  no  morgue  in  the  coun- 
try —  no  place  such  as  there  is  in  many  cities,  where 
friendless  or  unknown  bodies  are  taken,when  found, 
the  body  was  brought  to  my  mother's  house,  which 
was  near.  A  coroner's  court  was  there  heW  to  de- 
termine the  cause  of  death.  The  jury  said  it  was 
accidental  drowning.  No  one  was  blamed.  The 
sad  funeral  occurred,  and  nothing  was  said  at  that 
funeral  of  the  evils  of  drink,  or  the  blame  of  drink- 
ing or  selling  it,  though  the  young  man  that  sold 
this  drunkard  the  liquor  and  sent  him  out  in  the 
night,  saw  clearly  afterwards  how  wrong  it  was  ; 
and  for  many  years,  though  he  repented  and  trusted 
God  had  forgiven  him,  he  wore  on  his  conscience 
a  burden  of  "  bloodguiltiness  "  for  having  a  part  in 
that  terrible  death. 

The  horror  of  that  whole  affair  haunted  me  like 


1 8  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

an  evil  spirit  for  many  months  after.  But  one  day 
an  old  friend  of  my  father's,  a  member  of  the  same 
church,  called  on  a  friendly  visit  at  my  mother's 
house.  My  oldest  brother,  who  was  then  the  head 
of  the  family,  brought  out,  as  was  the  general  cus- 
tom, a  decanter  of  liquor  and  offered  the  visitor. 
He  politely  said,  "  I  thank  you  for  what  you  intend 
as  a  kindness,  but  I  have  concluded  to  drink  no 
more  liquor."  In  reply  to  the  surprise  which  all 
countenances  expressed,  he  said,  "  I  know  this 
liquor  flbes  an  immense  amount  of  harm,  I  believe, 
as  a  beverage,  it  does  no  good,  and  therefore  I  shall 
take  it  no  more." 

I  saw  at  once,  boy  as  I  was,  that  if  his  premises 
were  correct,  his  conclusion  was  logical,  and  the 
only  one  to  which  a  good  man  could  consistently 
come.  This  was  the  first  temperance  argument  I 
had  ever  heard.  I  was  most  painfully  sensible  of 
the  harm  that  liquor  had  done,  though  I  had  but 
the  dimmest  conception  of  its  extent,  and  if  it 
really  did  no  good  —  if  it  did  not  help  the  harvest 
men  to  do  their  work  better,  if  the  "  bitters  "  taken 
in  the  morning  and  "  toddy  "  at  night,  did  not  im- 


HALF  A  CENTURY'S  STUDY  OF  THE  QUESTION.  19 

prove  the  health  and  strength  —  if  liquor  did  not 
warm  the  body  when  it  was  cold,  nor  protect  it  from 
the  effects  of  heat  —  if  it  was  really  useless  as  a 
beverage,  it  seemed  to  me  the  argument  was  con- 
clusive, overwhelmingly  so,  in  favor  of  abstaining 
from  it. 

I  soon  began  to  inquire,  to  observe,  and  to  think 
about  these  propositions  :  Is  it  useless  ?  In  what 
manner  and  to  what  extent  is  it  harmful  ?  What 
is  it  in  the  liquor  that  does  the  harm,  or  does  not  do 
the  good  ?  How  are  its  evils  to  be  prevented  ? 

These  are  not  trivial  questions.  They  are  worthy 
of  the  most  careful  and  protracted  consideration 
of  any  mind.  They  have  received  no  inconsider- 
able portion  of  my  attention  for  more  than  fifty 
years.  When  I  was  still  quite  young  I  studied 
chemistry,  as  it  was  then  taught,  and  learned  what 
the  article  in  liquors  that  produces  these  effects 
was.  I  learned  that  it  was  called  alcohol  —  I 
learned  of  what  it  was  composed,  and  how  it  was 
produced.  I  afterwards  studied  anatomy,  physio- 
logy, pathology  and  therapeutics  ;  that  is,  I  studied 
the  structure  of  the  body,  what  it  does  in  health, 


20          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

what  happens  to  it  in  disease  ;  how  and  by  what  it 
is  injured  ;  how  injuries  are  to  be  prevented,  and 
how,  when  they  occur,  they  are  to  be  mitigated  or 
removed.  In  other  words,  I  studied  to  be  a  doc- 
tor ;  and  after  I  had  completed  a  certain  course  of 
study  I  commenced  practising  as  a  doctor,  and 
afterwards  I  tried  to  teach  others  the  science  and 
art  of  medicine  ;  and  all  through  these  studies,  this 
experience,  and  these  teachings,  I  have  made  care- 
ful observations,  have  tried  some  experiments,  and 
read  accounts  of  many  others,  respecting  alcohol  ; 
have  studied  the  subject  at  home  and  in  other 
countries,  and  I  now  propose  to  tell  you  some  of 
the  things  that  I  know  about  it,  and  believe  to  be 
very  important  truths. 

When  we  get  through,  we  shall  see  whether  we 
do  not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  statement, 
the  belief,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  first  temper- 
ance argument  that  I  ever  heard  were  correct :  Al- 
cohol is  harmful ;  it  is  useless ;  we  will  not  take  it. 


CHAPTER  II. 

, 

THE    PRODUCTION    OF   ALCOHOL   AND    THE   COMPO- 
SITION   OF    ALCOHOLIC    LIQUORS. 

THE   article    in  all  intoxicating   drinks  that 
does  the  harm  is  called  Alcohol.     I  propose 
to  tell  you  what  it  is,  how  it  is  produced,  where  it 
is  found,  and  what  it  does  when  taken  into  peo- 
ple's stomachs. 

Alcohol  is  a  thin,  colorless  liquid,  lighter  than 
water,  more  easily  evaporated,  and  boiling,  which 
makes  it  into  a  vapor,  at  a  lower  temperature  than 
water.  When  touched  with  a  burning  match  it  is 
$et  on  fire  and  burns  with  a  blue  flame,  producing 
much  heat  and  but  a  little  light.  You  may  have 
seen  it  burning  in  a  spirit  lamp.  It  is  a  very  defi- 
nite chemical  compound,  and  is  the  same  wherever 
found.  Its  character  is  not  changed  by  anything 
with  which  it  is  mixed,  and  it  continues  the  same, 
unless  it  is  burned  up  or  destroyed.  Those  of  you 

21 


22  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

who  have  studied  chemistry,  have  learned  that 
there  are  a  few  original  or  simple  elements  which 
when  combined  together  in  various  proportions  form 
all  the  ordinary  substances  we  see  and  use.  There 
are  four  substances  or  elements  which,  when  com- 
bined, form  the  chief  part  of  all  our  foods,  and  only 
three  of  these  enter  into  the  composition  of  some 
articles  which  we  take. 

These  four  elements  are  called  oxygen,  carbon, 
hydrogen,  and  nitrogen.  When  each  of  these  sub- 
stances is  alone,  three  of  them,  oxygen,  hydrogen, 
and  nitrogen,  are  gases,  without  color  and  invisible, 
like  the  air  we  breathe,  or  the  gas  we  burn  for 
lights.  Indeed,  the  air  is  composed  of  two  of  these, 
oxygen  and  nitrogen.  Carbon,  when  alone,  is  a 
solid  substance.  It  is  almost  pure  in  charcoal  and 
in  lampblack,  and  is  quite  pure  in  the  diamond. 
When,  however,  it  is  combined  with  the  other  sub- 
stances, its  compounds  take  different  forms  —  some- 
times the  form  of  gas,  sometimes  the  form  of  liq- 
uids, and  sometimes  the  form  of  solids.  When 
combined  with  a  certain  proportion  of  oxygen  it 
forms  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  bubbles  off  in  a 


THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL.        23 

glass  of  soda  water.  When  united  with  a  certain 
proportion  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  it  forms  sugar, 
a  solid,  sweet  substance,  as  you  know  ;  and  when 
united  with  the  same  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  but  in 
different  proportions,  it  forms  alcohol  —  this  liquid 
that  we  are  to  find  out  about. 

Now,  then,  the  different  substances  mentioned 
and  many  others,  though  formed  from  the  same 
elements  but  in  different  proportions,  have,  many 
of  them,  entirely  different  appearances,  properties, 
and  effects  —  are  all  quite  different  materials. 
These  are  chemical  facts  which  many  people  do 
not  understand ;  hence  they  make  mistakes  when 
they  talk  about  alcohol.  Some,  in  their  ignorance, 
say  it  is  in  all  our  food,  that  it  must  be  in  grain  or 
it  could  not  be  got  out  of  it,  that  our  food  is  changed 
into  alcohol  in  our  stomachs,  and  various  other  ab- 
surd things.  It  does  not  exist  anywhere  in  Nature, 
either  in  grain,  or  fruit,  or  anything  else. 

But  you  are  desirous  of  knowing  from  what  and 
how  alcohol  is  produced.  It  is  always  produced 
from  sugar,  by  an  artificial  process. 

When  grape  sugar  —  the  sweet  substance  exist- 


,24  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

ing  in  grapes  and  various  other  fruits  —  is  dissolved 
and  diluted  in  water,  and  at  the  ordinary  tempera- 
ture of  the  air,  and  has  a  particle  of  yeast  added, 
a  change  goes  on  in  it.  It  "  works,"  as  it  is  said. 
I  have  already  indicated  that  sugar  is  composed  of 
carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen  in  certain  propor- 
tions, and  have  said  that  when  the  proportions  of 
the  elements  in  a  substance  were  changed  the  na- 
ture of  the  product  was  changed,  often  completely. 
Now,  in  this  "  working,"  such  a  change  takes  place 
in  the  elements  of  the  sugar,  by  changes  in  their 
proportions  and  relations,  that  the  sugar  is  de- 
stroyed, as  sugar,  as  much  as  wood  is  destroyed 
when  it  is  burned  —  that  is,  it  is  changed  in  the 
form  and  character  of  its  substance  ;  and  instead 
of  sugar  we  have  two  new  substances  produced,  al- 
cohol, a  liquid,  and  carbonic  acid,  a  gas.  The  car- 
bonic acid  passes  off  in  the  bubbles,  as  the  liquid  — 
cider,  for  instance  —  "  works  ;  "  but  the  alcohol  re- 
mains in  the  cider,  having  a  strong  affinity  for  the 
water  that  is  present. 

When  common  cane  or  maple  sugar  is  dissolved 
and  largely  diluted  with  water,  and  yeast  is  added, 


THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL.       25 

the  sugar  is  first  slightly  changed  from  cane  to  what 
is  called  grape  sugar,  and  then  into  alcohol  and 
carbonic  acid,  as  in  the  other  case.  Also  when 
pure  starch  is  taken,  or  when  grain,  or  rice,  or  po- 
tatoes, all  of  which  contain  starch,  are  ground  up 
and  mixed  with  water,  and  yeast  is  added,  fermen- 
tation takes  place ;  the  starch  is  first  changed  to 
sugar,  and  then  to  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  fruit  juice,  and  of  the  sugar  and 
water. 

In  the  yeast  which  produces  these  changes  are 
living  plants,  so  small  they  cannot  be  seen  without 
a  magnifying  glass  ;  these  multiply  rapidly,  when 
they  are  in  a  proper  vehicle,  as  the  sugar  and  water, 
or  starch  and  water,  and  cause  all  this  "  working  " 
and  change.  Now  these  little  plants  do  not  have 
leaves  and  roots  like  larger  plants  that  grow  from 
the  ground,  nor  do  they  hayarflowers  and  seeds,  like 
many  larger  plants.  They  are  more  like  mush- 
rooms, but  not  of  their  shape.  They  are  only  little 
rod-shaped  particles,  linked  together  and  sometimes 
branching  off,  something  like  old  treetops. 

There  are  many  such  very  small,  living,  growing 


26  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

bodies,  some  very  much  smaller  than  the  common 
yeast  plant,  found  in  common  water,  and  floating  in 
the  air ;  and  they  produce  particles  much  smaller 
than  themselves,  which  serve  a  similar  purpose  to 
seeds  of  larger  flowering  plants  ;  and  these,  which 
are  called  spores,  are  so  very  small  they  go  into  al- 
most every  place  where  the  air  goes,  and  they  get 
into  apple  juice  and  grape  juice,  when  it  is  exposed 
to  the  air,  and  grow  up  into  the  little  plants,  and 
cause  fermentation ;  so  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
add  yeast  to  apple  juice  to  produce  fermentation 
and  alcohol.  In  fermenting  grain,  to  make  beer 
or  whiskey,  yeast  is  added  to  cause  the  changes. 

To  make  strong  alcoholic  cider  out  of  apple 
juice,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  leave  it  in  the  bar- 
rels, and  to  give  it  vent  by  the  bung  when  it 
"  works." 

To  make  wine,  the  grapes  are  crushed  and  left  in 
tubs  or  vats  when  the  fermentation  takes  place  ; 
the  skins  and  seeds  of  the  grapes  settle  to  the  bot- 
tom, and  are  called  lees,  and  the  wine  is  drawn  or 
dipped  off  and  put  in  casks  or  bottles,  where  in 
time  other  slight  changes  take  place,  which  produce 


THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL.        27 

particular  flavors  ;  but  the  alcohol  produced  from 
the  sugar  remains  the  same,  and  there  is  more  or 
less  of  it,  according  to  the  amount  of  sugar  which 
is  fermented  and  changed. 

In  making  beer  grain  is  used,  mostly  barley. 
Some  of  the  barley  is  moistened  and  kept  in  a  warm 
place  until  it  sprouts,  or  sends  out  little  roots.  In  this 
process  much  of  the  starch  in  the  grain  is  changed 
into  sugar.  Then  the  sprouted  barley  is  dried  and 
roasted,  and  this  is  called  Malt.  The  malt  is  mixed 
with  other  ground  grain  and  hops,  and  sometimes 
aloes,  quassia,  and  other  bitter  things  are  added, 
the  whole  is  heated  together,  and  yeast  is  put  in  — 
brewers'  yeast  —  the  fermentation  takes  place,  the 
same  alcohol  is  formed,  and  the  liquid  is  put  up  in 
casks  or  bottles,  like  the  wine. 

Whiskey  is  made  by  treating  the  grain  in  a  simi- 
lar manner,  but  no  hops  are  added ;  and  when  the 
fermentation  has  taken  place  and  the  alcohol  is 
formed,  instead  of  leaving  it  in  that  condition,  it  is 
all  put  in  a  still,  or  a  large  boiler  with  a  tight  cover, 
but  with  a  tube  or  pipe  attached,  making  altogether 
what  is  called  a  retort.  This  tube  extends  on  and 


28  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

is  twisted  round  into  a  large  coil,  or  "  worm,"  which 
is  placed  in  a  tub,  into  which  cold  water  is  con- 
stantly running —  the  tube  passing  out  of  this  and 
emptying  into  a  vessel.  Heat  is  now  applied  to 
the  retort,  or  boiler,  and  the  alcohol  which  is  in  the 
water  with  the  remains- of  the  grain,  being  lighter 
and  more  readily  formed  into  vapor,  passes  up  into 
the  tube  and  is  cooled  in  the  coil  in  the  water,  so 
as  to  come  into  the  liquid  form  again,  and  runs  out 
into  the  vessel  to  receive  it.  Some  steam  from  the 
water  passes  over  with  the  alcohol  and  is  condensed 
and  discharged  with  it,  and  the  whole,  after  proper 
rectifying,  constitutes  whiskey. 

To  get  more  pure  alcohol  separated  from  the 
water  and  any  remains  of  the  grain,  repeated  dis- 
tillations are  necessary.  You  see  by  these  state- 
ments, that  distillation  does  not  produce  the  al- 
cohol, but  merely  separates  it  from  other  substan- 
ces. 

Genuine  brandy  is  made  by  distilling  wine,  or 
the  fermented  products  of  the  grape.  Rum  is  made 
by  the  distillation  of  the  fermented  products  of  the 
sugar  cane;  gin,  by  distilling  grain  products  like 


THE    PRODUCTION    OF    ALCOHOL.  29 

the  whiskey,  with  the  addition  of  juniper  berries  and 
leaves,  or  the  oil  of  turpentine,  to  give  it  a  peculiar 
flavor. 

Whiskey,  gin,  rum,  and  brandy  are  called  Arden. 
Spirits.  They  all  contain  alcohol  and  water,  iii 
nearly  equal  proportions.  What  is  called  proof 
spirit  contains  fifty  parts  in  a  hundred  of  pure  al- 
cohol by  measure. 

Pure,  orgenuine  wine  from  fermentation  of  grape- 
juice,  contains  from  five  to  sixteen  parts  in  a  hun- 
dred of  pure  alcohol  ;  but  the  wines  in  the  market 
sometimes  have  twenty-five  parts  in  a  hundred  of 
the  alcohol,  as  more  alcohol  is  added  to  it,  after 
the  grape  juice  is  fermented. 

Beer  contains  from  four  or  five  to  twelve  or  more 
parts  of  alcohol  in  a  hundred ;  and  cider  nearly  the 
same,  according  to  the  amount  of  sugar  contained 
in  the  apples  of  which  it  was  made. 

Current  wine,  elderberry,  and  other  wines  are 
sometimes  made  and  drunk  even  by  temperance 
people,  who  do  not  know  they  contain  the  same 
alcohol  as  whiskey.  Some  juice  of  the  berries  is 
mixed  with  water  and  sugar  and  allowed  to  ferment, 


30  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

often  producing  a  strong  alcoholic  liquor.  This  is 
just  as  bad  as  any  other  drink  which  has  the  same 
amount  of  alcohol  in  it. 

Alcohol  readily  mixes  with  many  things  besides 
water.  It  dissolves  resins,  making  varnishes,  and 
also  essential  oils,  such  as  the  oil  of  peppermint, 
cinnamon,  etc.,  making  essences.  It  also  dissolves 
the  active  medicinal  principles  of  many  drugs,  mak- 
ing tinctures ;  and  it  is  used  for  making  various  med- 
icines and  coloring  materials  where  the  alcohol  is 
driven  off  before  they  are  finished.  It  is  thus,  like 
various  other  poisons,  such  as  lead,  arsenic,  mer- 
cury, aqua  fortis,  etc,,  useful  in  the  arts ;  but  this 
does  not  prove  that  it  is  innocent  when  used  in 
any  of  its  mixtures  as  a  drink, 

I  have  taken  so  much  space  to  tell  about  the  pro- 
duction of  alcohol,  because  I  think  it  important 
that  all  should  understand  about  it.  It  is  partic- 
ularly important  to  know  that  distilling  —  making 
the  alcohol  into  vapor  by  heat,  and  bringing  it 
back  to  the  liquid  form  by  cold  —  does  not  change 
its  character.  Water  is  sometimes  distilled  in  a 
retort  to  separate  it  from  other  things,  but  when  it 


THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL.        31 

comes  from  steam  into  liquid  again,  it  is  the  same 
water.  A  kind  of  distillation  is  going  on  around 
us  with  water  all  the  time.  It  goes  up  in  vapor 
from  the  earth  and  the  sea,  and  comes  down  in 
dew  and  rain,  the  same  water  that  rises.  So  the 
alcohol  that  is  made  into  vapor  and  brought  back 
to  a  liquid  in  a  still  is  the  same  thing,  unchanged. 
I  said  alcohol  was  the  same  wherever  it  was 
found.  It  is  the  same  in  wine  and  beer  as  in 
whiskey  and  brandy ;  and  the  drunk-making  qual- 
ity of  any  liquor  depends  upon  the  amount  of  al- 
cohol it  contains.  A  glass  of  very  strong  wine 
will  produce  essentially  the  same  effect  as  the 
same  glass  filled  with  half  whiskey  and  half  water. 
A  glass  of  weaker  wine  containing  twelve  and  a 
half  parts  of  alcohol  in  a  hundred,  would  be  equal 
to  a  glass  of  whiskey  and  water  that  has  twice  as 
much  water  in  it  as  the  last.  Other  things  in  the 
wine  and  beer  make  them  taste  differently,  but  the 
effects  in  the  blood  and  upon  the  brain  and  the 
nerves  are  the  same  —  there  is  no  difference  in 
drinking  wine  or  beer,  and  in  drinking  whiskey  or 
brandy  with  a  certain  amount  of  water  added. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PARTS   AND    QUALITIES   OF   THE    HUMAN   SYSTEM. 

THE  subject  of  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the 
living  body  is  one  of  very  great  interest  and 
importance,  and  its  importance  is  now  recognized 
by  very  many  people.  That  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors  as  beverages  is  liable  to  do,  and  actually 
does  in  thousands  of  cases,  all  the  harm  so  forcibly 
stated  in  the  preface  by  Mrs.  Livermore,  no  one 
who  has  common  intelligence  on  the  subject  will 
deny.  But  many  persons  think,  or  at  least  say, 
and  act  as  though  they  believed,  that  indulgence 
in  a  quantity  of  alcoholic  liquors  not  "  excessive," 
is  at  least  innocent ;  and  some  will  even  say,  bene- 
ficial. Those  who  think  this  true  very  naturally 
oppose  restrictions  upon  the  use  of  such  liquors, 
or  any  rigid  restrictions  upon  their  sale.  They  are 
apt  to  say  that  they  and  others  ought  not  to  be 
32 


PARTS  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  HUMAN  SYSTEM.       33 

prevented  from  the  use  of  articles  good  for  them, 
because  some  abuse  them.  I  have  heard  men  say 
it  would  be  as  proper  to  condemn  and  prevent 
the  use  of  water,  because  some  drink  too  much  of 
it,  as  to  condemn  and  interfere  with  the  use  of  al- 
coholic liquors,  because  some  use  too  much  of  these. 
They  must  admit  that  the  common  practice  and 
example  of  drinking  lead  many  to  excessive  indul- 
gence and  ruin  ;  and  they  know  that  St.  Paul 
said,  that  if  eating  meat  should  cause  his  brother  to 
offend,  he  would  abstain  from  eating  so  innocent 
a  thing  as  meat  while  the  world  should  stand. 
They  must  acknowledge  that  they  have  not  as  high 
a  standard  of  moral  and  Christian  conduct  as  St. 
Paul,  but  would  rather  ask  with  another  character 
in  Scripture  history,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  " 
If  alcoholic  liquors  are  good  as  drinks,  there  is 
at  least  a  question  as  to  whether  they  should  be 
unsparingly  denounced,  and  their  use  and  sale 
forbidden  or  restricted.  If,  however,  they  are  use- 
less, and  especially  if  they  are  injurious  and  dan- 
gerous as  beverages,  in  whatever  quantities  taken, 
then  there  is  every  reason  for  denouncing  them, 


34          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

and  endeavoring  to  suppress  their  sale  and  use,  in 
view  of  the  great  harm  they  are  acknowledged  to 
do. 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  in  this  whole  matter  of 
temperance  agitation  as  a  hygienic,  a  social,  a 
moral,  or  a  legal  question,  much,  if  not  everything, 
depends  upon  the  question  as  to  whether  these 
drinks,  in  their  habitual  or  even  occasional  use, 
are  good  or  evil  things.  If  it  should  be  thought 
they  were  good  or  innocent  when  taken  in  mod- 
eration, then  it  would  be  important  to  determine 
what  was  moderation,  and  this  has  never  been 
defined.  A  very  small  quantity  of  other  poi- 
sons, of  arsenic  for  instance,  may  be  taken  for 
a  long  time,  or  occasionally  certainly,  without 
doing  very  much  harm  —  without  doing  harm  that 
would  be  perceptible  to  all ;  yet  however  small  the 
quantity,  some  harm  would  be  done,  certainly  no 
good,  and  it  would  be  folly,  on  account  of  its  slight 
effects  when  little  enough  was  taken,  to  encourage 
or  tolerate  the  habitual  or  even  occasional  use  of  it. 

But  coming  to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  effects  of 
alcoholics  upon  the  human  system,  some  statements 


PARTS  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  HUMAN  SYSTEM.       35 

seem  necessary  as  to  the  parts  and  qualities  of  that 
system.  The  organs  most  concerned  in  the  action 
of  alcohol  are  the  stomach,  the  liver,  the  heart, 
the  kidneys,  and  the  brain  and  nervous  system  — 
though  all  parts  of  the  body  are  affected  by  it. 

The  stomach,  as  all  know,  is  the  organ  into 
which  is  received  our  food  and  drink,  and  in  which 
the  food  is  chiefly  digested  and  prepared  to  nour- 
ish the  body.  The  food,  thus  digested,  is  largely 
absorbed,  or  soaked  up,  from  this  organ  into  the 
blood  through  the  coats  of  the  veins,  and  carried 
to  the  liver,  where  it  undergoes  farther  changes,  is 
converted  largely  into  blood  and  mingled  with  it, 
and  is  then  carried  to  the  right  side  of  the  heart, 
which  pumps  it  into  the  lungs,  where  it  is  acted 
upon  by  the  oxygen  in  the  air  we  breathe,  chang- 
ing it  from  the  dark  blood  of  the  veins  to  the  bright 
red  blood  of  the  arteries.  This  blood  is  then  car- 
ried on  to  the  left  side  of  the  heart,  and  from  it 
pumped  out  through  the  arteries  to  all  parts  of 
the  body.  .  It  goes  from  larger  to  smaller  arteries, 
until  it  comes  into  some  very  small  vessels  called 
capillaries.  It  passes  through  these  minute  ves- 


36  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

sels  slowly,  and  its  nourishing  particles  are  taken 
up  into  the  different  parts,  affording  them  nourish- 
ment, contributing  to  their  growth  in  young  per- 
sons, and  to  the  maintenance  of  the  strength  and 
activity  of  all  persons  and  all  parts. 

The  small  veins  then  take  up  the  altered  blood 
which  is  not  appropriated  by  the  tissues,  together 
with  the  materials  which  result  from  the  wearing 
out  of  particles  in  the  acts  of  life,  and  this  blood  is 
carried  from  all  parts  of  the  body,  from  smaller  to 
larger  veins,  until  it  comes  back  to  the  right  side 
of  the  heart  and  is  again  carried  to  the  lungs,  to  be 
restored  to  arterial  blood  by  the  air;  and  so  the 
process  goes  on  perpetually  during  our  whole  life. 

The  fluids  taken  into  the  stomach  are  absorbed 
into  the  veins  like  the  foods,  which  are  all  dis- 
solved and  brought  to  a  liquid  state,  and  these 
fluids  are  carried  in  the  blood  to  the  liver,  and  then 
to  the  heart  and  lungs. 

Some  of  the  foods  and  fluids  swallowed  pass  out 
of  the  stomach  into  the  intestines,  are  changed  and 
digested  farther  there,  and  are  absorbed  from  this 
situation  partly  by  the  veins  and  partly  by  a  spe- 


PARTS  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  HUMAM  SYSTEM.       37 

cial  set  of  vessels  called  lacteals,  and,  like  those 
substances  absorbed  from  the  stomach,  are  finally 
carried  into  the  blood. 

In  the  stomach  the  food  meets  with  a  fluid  called 
the  gastric  juice,  secreted  by  the  coats  of  the  stom- 
ach, and  which  dissolves  and  digests  or  changes 
the  food,  and  fits  it  for  absorption,  and  for  the  far- 
ther changes  in  the  system. 

Shakespeare  says,  "  the  stomach  is  the  storehouse 
and  workshop  of  the  whole  body ; "  and  the  office 
of  this  organ  could  not  be  more  briefly  and  accu- 
rately expressed. 

The  liver  is  also  an  important  organ.  It  is  a 
large,  solid  body,  situated  to  the  right  of  the  stom- 
ach under  the  ribs,  and  it  performs  several  offices. 
It  changes  the  food  carried  to  it,  and  converts  a 
part  of  it  into  blood.  It  produces  heat,  by  the 
chemical  changes  effected  there,  and  prepares  waste 
material  in  the  blood  for  being  carried  out  of  the 
system ;  and  it  secretes  bile.  This  bile  is  carried 
by  ducts  from  the  liver  into  the  intestines,  and  is  a 
material  that  is  useful  in  digesting  food  that  passes 
from  the  stomach  into  the  bowels  ;  and  it  promotes 


38  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

proper  action  of  those  organs.  When  the  liver  is 
changed  in  its  structure  or  its  action,  the  whole  sys- 
tem is  deranged. 

The  heart  is  one  of  the  vital  organs  which  must 
be  constantly  in  action,  or  life  will  speedily  end. 
Its  office  is  to  circulate  the  blood,  and  if  this  fluid 
fails  to  be  sent  to  any  organ,  even  for  a  short  time, 
that  organ  ceases  its  action  ;  and  when  a  large  num- 
ber of  organs  cease  their  action,  death  occurs. 
When  the  heart  acts  improperly,  more  or  less  de- 
rangement results. 

The  lungs,  again,  perform  an  office  which  is  im- 
mediately essential  to  life,  and  are  also  called 
vital  organs.  In  the  passage  of  the  blood 
through  the  tissues  it  loses  its  oxygen,  and  carbon 
compounds  are  formed,  which  are  injurious  to 
the  tissues  ;  or,  at  any  rate,  this  venous  blood  is 
not  capable  of  sustaining  life-actions  in  the  organs 
and  tissues.  This  venous  blood  constantly  flowing 
into  the  lungs  must  be  as  constantly  changed  into 
arterial  blood  by  the  action  of  the  oxygen  of  the 
air  upon  it.  The  union  of  oxygen  in  the  lungs 
with  carbon  and  hydrogen  is  a  kind  of  combustion, 


PARTS  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  HUMAN  SYSTEM.       39 

and  by  it  the  heat  of  the  body  is  kept  up,  while  the 
blood  at  the  same  time  is  purified.  If  the  lungs 
should  cease  to  perform  their  office  —  if  we  stop 
breathing  even  for  a  few  minutes  —  death  will  fol- 
low. Anything  which  interferes  with  the  proper 
action  of  the  lungs,  or  hinders  the  purification  of 
the  blood  and  the  addition  to  it  of  the  proper 
amount  of  oxygen,  interferes  with  all  the  functions 
of  the  body,  reduces  the  temperature,  and  in  vari- 
ous ways  does  mischief  to  the  system. 

The  kidneys  perform  a  very  important  office  in 
carrying  out  of  the  body  and  the  blood  effete  or 
worn-out  materials  that  result  from  muscular  and 
other  actions,  and  from  the  changes  of  the  foods 
taken.  These  foreign  matters,  if  retained  for  a 
considerable  time,  are  certain  to  poison  the  whole 
system,  cause  stupor,  and  generally  convulsions, 
and  always  death.  Anything,  again,  which  inter- 
feres with  the  proper  action  of  the  kidneys  deranges 
the  whole  body. 

But  the  brain  and  nervous  system  is,  if  possible, 
the  most  essential  —  is  certainly  the  most  central, 
the  most  characteristic,  and  the  most  important 


40  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

part  of  the  human  being.  It  not  only  presides 
over  and  is  essential  to  every  action  of  the  body, 
but  is  the  special  organ  of  the  mind.  Its  proper 
conditions  and  actions  are  essential  to  proper  think- 
ing and  proper  feeling,  to  the  existence  of  proper 
moral  qualities,  and  to  the  sustaining  of  proper 
conduct  and  proper  social  relations.  A  bad  brain 
makes  a  bad  man.  It  hardly  needs  to  be  said 
that  anything  which  acts  specially  and  injuriously 
upon  the  brain  and  nervous  system  deranges  every 
department  of  the  character  and  of  the  conduct, 
physical  and  mental. 

The  blood,  though  not  an  organ  like  the  stomach 
or  the  brain,  is  a  vital  fluid,  an  essential  medium 
of  communication  between  all  parts,  the  carrier  of 
the  food  and  the  oxygen  to  all  the  tissues,  and  is 
the  agent  of  nutrition,  of  growth,  of  maintenance, 
and  of  purification  of  the  body  —  and  this  nutrition 
is  the  ultimate  and  essential  life-action.  When 
this  ceases,  death  occurs,  and  when  this  is  de- 
ranged, disease  is  present. 

The  Bible  says  the  blood  is  the  life  of  the  body, 
and  certainly  anything  that  destroys  the  blood  de- 


PARTS  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  HUMAN  SYSTEM.       41 

stroys  life ;  and  anything  that  deranges  or  corrupts 
the  blood  deranges  the  actions  and  corrupts  the 
very  source  and  agent  of  life. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  show  the  action  of  alcohol 
on  all  these  parts,  and  upon  the  system  at  large  — 
upon  body,  mind,  and  character. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

EFFECTS    OF   ALCOHOL   UPON    THE   STOMACH. 

OUR  bodies  are  dependent  for  their  growth, 
their  support  and  activity  upon  substances 
taken  into  them.  The  air  so  necessary  to  our  life  is 
taken  into  the  lungs  ;  and  some  other  materials  are 
taken  with  it  in  the  form  of  gases  and  vapors,  but 
these  latter  are  not  for  support  or  growth,  and  many 
are  injurious.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  sub- 
stances, whether  for  necessary  and  useful  purposes, 
or  with  injurious  effects,  are  taken  into  the  stomach. 
These  ingesta,  as  they  are  called,  may  be  divided 
into  Foods,  Simple  Drinks,  Medicines,  and  Poisons ; 
and  besides  these  there  are  certain  materials  used 
as  luxuries  which  are  modifiers  of  action,  and  are 
regarded  variously  as  foods,  medicines,  or  as  capa- 
ble of  producing  injurious  effects.  Condiments, 

spices,  coffee,  tea  and  chocolate  belong  to  this  class. 

42 


EFFECTS   OF   ALCOHOL   UPON   THE   STOMACH.     43 

There  are  also  other  substances  taken  into  the 
stomach  which  are  inert  —  incapable  of  solution 
and  absorption  —  and  which  have  no  effect  except 
such  as  is  caused  by  their  bulk  or  the  shape  of 
their  particles.  The  hard  fibres  in  fruits  and  veg- 
etables, the  husks  of  seeds  and  grains,  and  some 
mineral  substances  are  examples.  Doctor  Martin 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  in  his  work  on  the 
Human  Body,  says  : 

Foods  may  be  defined  as  substances  which  when  taken 
into  the  alimentary  canal  are  absorbed  from  it,  and  these 
serve  either  to  supply  material  for  the  growth  of  the  body, 
or  for  the  replacement  of  matter  which  has  been  removed 
from  it. 

Food,  in  order  to  be  such,  must  fulfil  certain  con- 
ditions. It  must  contain  the  elements  which  it  is 
to  replace  in  the  body,  and  those  necessary  to  build 
up  the  tissues.  It  must  be  capable  of  being  ab- 
sorbed from  the  stomach  or  intestines,  and  carried 
to  the  tissues  ;  and,  lastly,  neither  the  substance  it- 
self, nor  any  of  the  products  arising  from  its  changes, 
or  from  combinations  with  other  substances,  must 


44  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

< 

be  injurious  to  the  structure  or  activity  of  any 
organ. 

If  these  injurious  effects  are  produced  "  it  is  a 
poison  and  not  a  food." 

Water  is  the  simple  diluent  Drink.  This  liquid 
constitutes  about  two  thirds  of  the  whole  weight  of 
the  body.  It  is  contained  in  every  tissue  as  well  as 
in  every  fluid  of  the  system ;  and  its  loss,  which  is 
constantly  going  on,  must  from  time  to  time  be  sup- 
plied. Many  drinks  in  use  contain  other  ingredi- 
ents, but  all  contain  water.  The  other  materials 
may  be  foods,  as  in  milk  ,•  may  be  modifiers  of  ac- 
tions, as  in  infusions  of  coffee  and  tea  ;  or  they  may 
be  medicines  or  poisons. 

Medicines  are  substances  which  are  taken  for  the 
purpose  of  modifying  beneficially  wrong  actions  or 
conditions  of  the  system  ;  or,  in  other  words,  for  the 
alleviation  of  suffering  and  the  removal  of  disease. 

Poisons  are  substances  which,  either  by  them- 
selves, or  by  the  materials  produced  by  their 
changes  and  combinations,  inflict  injury  upon  the 
system  or  some  of  its  parts,  and  which  are  usually 
capable,  independently  of  their  bulk  or  mere  physi- 


EFFECTS   OF  ALCOHOL   UPON   THE   STOMACH.     45 

cal  qualities,  of  producing  death.  The  same  article 
may  be  a  medicine,  or  a  poison,  according  to  the 
manner  and  object  of  its  use.  Thus  arsenic,  though 
a  poison  that  inflicts  injury  when  taken  by  a  person 
in  health,  and  in  any  considerable  quantity  causes 
death,  may  yet  be  given  in  such  small  doses  as  to 
counteract  wrong  actions  and  aid  in  .removing 
diseases.  In  like  manner  morphine,  when  a  few 
grains  are  taken,  will  destroy  life,  and  always  in 
flicts  injury  in  whatever  quantity  when  taken  by  the 
well ;  yet  in  a  proper  dose  given  to  the  sick,  it  re- 
lieves pain,  procures  sleep,  prevents  suffering  and 
may  overcome  disease.  Its  habitual  use,  though  in 
quantities  which  may  not  only  be  endured  but  may 
produce  for  the  time  agreeable  sensations,  is  ac- 
companied by  consequences  the  most  deplorable. 

The  statement  of  these  facts  will  enable  the 
readers  who  wish  to  know  the  truth,  the  better  to 
understand  the  place  alcoholic  drinks  occupy,  after 
we  have  considered  their  particular  effects  on  the 
different  organs  and  functions  of  the  human  body. 

These  drinks  are  taken  into  the  stomach,  and  we 
are  first  to  inquire  as  to  their  effects  upon  that  or- 


46  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

gan.  Although  the  most  injurious  action  of  alcohol, 
as  it  is  commonly  taken,  is  not  upon  the  stomach, 
yet  its  effects  on  this  workshop  of  the  body  are 
often  of  the  most  serious  character  ;  but  as  with  all 
other  substances,  poisonous  or  otherwise,  its  par- 
ticular action  and  results  depend  much  upon  the 
quantity  taken,  the  degree  of  concentration  or 
strength  in  which  it  is  used,  and  upon  the  materials 
in  the  stomach  at  the  time,  and  the  particular  con- 
dition of  the  organ  ;  and  these  effects  are  further 
modified  by  its  habitual  or  only  occasional  use. 

When  an  ordinary  dram  of  spirit  and  water,  or  of 
wine,  is  taken  by  one  not  accustomed  to  it,  the  first 
noticeable  effect  on  the  stomach  is  to  produce  a 
feeling  of  warmth  in  it.  If  the  stomach  be  empty 
this  effect  is  more  decided  than  when  taken  at  the 
time  of  a  meal  or  soon  after.  When  food  is  pres- 
ent the  liquor  mingles  with  it,  is  diluted  and  makes 
less  impression  on  the  coats  of  the  stomach,  and  is 
more  slowly  absorbed.  It  causes  in  a  short  time  re- 
laxation and  enlargement  of  the  blood-vessels,  and 
more  blood  is  contained  in  them.  There  is  pres- 
ent a  state  of  irritation.  There  is  in  some  cases  a 


EFFECTS    OF   ALCOHOL    UPON   THE   STOMACH.     47 

more  free  secretion  from  the  glands,  but  it  is  more 
or  less  perverted.  This  irritation,  however,  may 
increase  the  appetite,  and  cause  more  food  to  be 
taken,  but  its  digestion  is  likely  to  be  impaired,  and 
if  much  alcohol  is  taken  the  gastric  juice  is  so 
changed  by  its  direct  action  upon  it  that  digestion 
is  arrested.  An  unnatural  condition  of  the  nerves 
and  vessels  and  of  the  whole  tissue  of  the  mem- 
brane is  induced.  If  the  alcohol  is  often  repeated 
the  vessels  become  permanently  dilated,  the  sur- 
face redder  than  natural ;  and  according  to  the  ob- 
servations of  Dr.  Beaumont  upon  the  stomach  of 
St.  Martin,  which  was  open  to  inspection  by  a  wound 
in  the  side,  a  degree  of  congestion  and  a  blush  of  in- 
flammation, and  often  small  points  of  oozing  blood 
appeared  after  each  indulgence  in  a  common  drink. 
When  the  drinking  is  free,  though  it  may  not  be 
carried  to  the  extent  of  drunkenness,  the  stomach 
is  apt  to  be  more  seriously  and  permanently 
changed.  The  coats  become  thickened,  the  organ 
i$  sometimes  much  contracted,  the  secretion  of  the 
gastric  juice  greatly  perverted  and  diminished. 
Then  very  little  food  can  be  taken  and  digested,  in- 


48  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

digestion,  distress  and  vomiting  come  on,  and  great 
depression  and  death  follow.  I  recall  cases  in  my 
experience  where  these  results  have  followed  the 
free  use  of  spirits  in  men  not  regarded  as  drunkards, 
and  who  continued  in  successful  business  until  the 
disease  of  the  stomach  arrested  their  course.  Some- 
times small  and  scattered  ulcerations  are  produced 
and  then  bleeding,  pain,  and  more  frequent  vomit- 
ing are  likely  to  occur,  and  death  is  apt  to  soon  fol- 
low. Even  when  these  conditions  exist,  though  pro- 
duced by  the  alcohol,  the  taking  of  a  dose  of  the 
same  article  will,  by  its  narcotic  effect  upon  the 
brain  and  nerves,  give  for  a  time  relief  to  the  dis- 
tressed feelings,  and  make  the  victim  of  the  habit 
think  that  he  cannot  give  up  his  drink,  and  that  it 
is  even  cloin^  him  good. 

When  great  excesses  are  indulged  in,  causing 
drunkenness,  more  immediate  and  violent  effects 
upon  the  stomach  are  often  produced.  The  organ 
becomes  congested  and  inflamed  so  that  days  may 
be  required  for  recovery  from  a  drunken  fit.  Wher^ 
much  alcohol  is  taken  into  the  stomach  as  strong  as 
clear  spirits,  or  spirits  but  moderately  diluted,  the 


EFFECTS    OF   ALCOHOL   UPON    THE   STOMACH.     49 

gastric  juice  which  digests  the  food  is  coagulated 
or  thickened  and  its  power  of  digestion  is  destroyed. 
Those  who  take  sufficient  alcohol  with  a  late  dinner 
or  supper  to  produce  drunkenness,  often  vomit  the 
food  after  some  hours  entirely  undigested. 

But  these  effects  upon  the  stomach  do  not  always 
follow  from  the  use  of  alcohol ;  and  in  consequence 
of  this  many  are  encouraged  to  continue  its  use,  and 
even  advocate  it  as  an  innocent  if  not  a  useful  thing. 
Some  persons  who  commence  taking  it  in  moder- 
ate quantities  largely  diluted,  as  in  wine  and  beer 
or  in  whiskey  or  brandy  with  much  water,  and  es- 
pecially if  they  take  it  at  meal-time,  do  not  have 
their  stomachs  materially  injured  though  they 
carry  the  indulgence  so  far  as  to  seriously  and  even 
fatally  injure  them  in  other  organs  and  in  other 
ways.  No  poisonous  article  operates  in  the  same 
manner  upon  every  person ;  and  some  will  endure  an 
amount  of  arsenic,  or  opium,  or  other  poisons,  when 
slowly  introduced,  without  very  marked  effects, 
which  would  soon  prove  much  more  injurious  or 
even  fatal  to  others,  especially  if  taken  without  the 
gradual  training.  This  is  the  case  with  alcohol. 


50  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF   SCIENCE. 

Some  stomachs  will  endure  a  considerable  quantity 
for  a  long  time  without  very  serious  effects  upon 
them  while  others  will  suffer  many  or  all  of  the  bad 
results  before  described.  When  the  injurious  effects 
of  alcohol  upon  the  stomach  are  urged  as  a  reason 
for  not  taking,  it,  some  old  drunkard  or  free  drinker 
is  often  referred  to  as  having  a  good  stomach  not- 
withstanding his  habits.  Such  cases  though  not  un- 
frequent  are  still  exceptional.  The  many  whose 
stomachs  are  injured  by  the  drink,  and  who  have 
been  forced  to  abandon  it,  or  who  are  suffering  or 
have  died  from  it,  are  lost  sight  of,  and  the  few  who 
have  endured  it  and  survived,  are  regarded  as  ex- 
amples of  all. 

As  well  might  one  say  that  a  battle  or  the  storm- 
ing of  a  battery  was  not  dangerous  or  destructive, 
since  many  old  soldiers  have  gone  through  the  or- 
deal with  but  slight  injuries. 

The  dangers  of  alcohol  to  the  stomach  are  great, 
especially  when  taken  in  form  of  ardent  spirits  and 
between  meals,  and  are  often  disastrous,  though 
some  escape  this  form  of  injury.  The  greater  in- 
jury falls  upon  other  organs  and  functions. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ACTION   OF   ALCOHOLICS   UPON   THE   LIVER. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  the  qualities  of  foods, 
medicines,  and  poisons  and  the  differences 
between  them  were  pointed  out.  This  was  done 
to  determine  the  place  of  alcoholics.  The  word 
"  intoxicants,"  which  means  poisons,  so  generally 
and  properly  applied  to  these  articles,  indicates 
where  they  belong.  As  with  other  poisons,  a  me- 
dicinal effect  from  alcohol  is  possible  ;  but  the 
poisonous  action  is  the  chief,  and,  in  the  absence 
of  disease,  the  essential  or  only  one. 

All  scientific  men  in  writing  upon  poisons  class 
alcohol  among  them,  and  no  one  denies  to  this 
article  poisonous  properties.  Like  other  poisons 
independent  of  its  bulk,  it  not  only  deranges  life- 
actions  but  is  capable  of  causing  speedy  death. 
The  account  given  of  its  action  upon  the  stomach 


52  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

shows  its  capability  of  inflicting  severe  injury  upon 
that  organ,  but  its  injurious  effects  are  not  confined 
to  the  stomach  even  while  remaining  within  it. 
The  impressions  made  there  effect  other  parts  of 
the  system.  The  nerves,  which  are  distributed 
throughout  every  part  of  the  body,  carry  impres- 
sions which  are  made  upon  one  part  to  others,  anS 
thus  change  the  actions  and  conditions  of  distant 
parts,  and  often  of  the  whole  system.  When  a 
swallow  or  two  of  brandy  or  whiskey  is  taken,  an 
impression  is  made  upon  the  nerves  of  the  stom- 
ach which  is  at  once  conveyed  to  other  parts,  es- 
pecially to  the  brain  and  heart,  causing,  for  a  time, 
an  excitement  of  these  parts.  This  is  not  the 
same  in  all  persons  ;  but  usually  an  excited  sen- 
sation is  felt  in  the  head,  and  the  heart  beats  more 
rapidly.  In  faintness  from  whatever  cause,  the 
heart  beats  very  feebly,  and  when  one  entirely 
"  faints  away  "  the  beating  ceases  entirely,  and  the 
blood  is  not  circulated  in  the  brain.  In  this  con- 
dition the  impression  of  alcohol  in  the  stomach 
may  arouse  those  other  organs  to  action,  just  as  a 
smell  of  hartshorn,  or  the  dashing  of  water  upon 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON   THE   LIVER.      53 

the  face,  or  the  application  of  a  hot  iron,  or  a 
tingling  blow  will  do,  and  thus  relieve  the  faintness. 

It  is  this  effect  of  alcohol  which  makes  people 
think  it  a  stimulant  —  an  exciter  or  increaser  of 
strength  and  action ;  and  in  the  sense  that  a 
strong  odor,  a  hot  iron,  or  a  smart  slap  is  a  stim- 
ulant, the  alcohol  is  a  stimulant.  But  this  effect 
of  a  drink  of  spirit  lasts  but  a  short  time,  usually 
but  a  few  minutes.  If  the  impression  is  very 
strong,  if  a  large  quantity  is  taken,  instead  of  any 
stimulation,  depression  immediately  follows,  and  as 
ia  the  case  of  an  extensive  burn,  or  a  severe  blow 
over  the  stomach,  death  may  speedily  be  produced. 
Men,  and  more  specially  children,  have  died  in  a 
few  minutes  from  a  large  dose  of  whiskey. 

But  the  principal,  the  more  characteristic,  and 
the  much  more  permanent  effects  of  alcohol  are 
from  its  absorption  from  the  stomach  into  the 
blood,  its  operation  upon  that  fluid,  and  upon  the 
organs  and  tissues  to  which  it  is  carried. 

Though  alcohol  while  in  the  stomach  acts  upon 
the  gastric  juice,  impairing  its  digestive  power,  and 
when  the  alcohol  is  much  concentrated  destroying 


54          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

its  digestive  action,  yet  under  no  circumstances 
does  this  digestive  fluid  change  the  alcohol.  This 
is  not  capable  of  being  digested,  but  is  taken  up 
by  the  vessels  of  the  stomach  simply  diluted, 
mingling  with  the  fluids  it  meets. 

It  is  first  carried  to  the  liver  and  then  to  the 
brain  and  the  rest  of  the  system,  and  its  principal 
action  upon  the  liver  I  shall  now  attempt  to  de- 
scribe. 

The  liver  and  brain  have  more  attraction  for 
alcohol  than  any  other  parts  of  the  body.  When 
an  animal  or  a  person  is  killed  by  a  large  dose  of 
this  poison  being  absorbed,  more  of  it  is  found  in 
these  organs  than  in  any  others. 

The  first  effect  of  the  alcohol  on  the  liver  is  to 
irritate  it,  just  as  it  irritates  the  mouth  and  the 
stomach,  or,  when  applied  strong  enough,  the  skin. 
It  causes  distension  of  the  bloodvessels,  and  the 
accumulation  of  a  larger  amount  of  blood  in  them 
than  there  should  be.  This  results  in  swelling  of 
the  organ,  partly  from  the  larger  quantity  of  blood 
in  the  vessels,  and  partly  from  effusion  into  it  and 
an  increase  of  the  tissue.  This  change  in  the  con- 


ACTION   OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON   THE   LIVER.     55 

dition  of  the'  liver  causes  a  change  in  its  action 
and  even  without  much  change  in  its  size  or  struc- 
ture, decided  changes  occur  from  the  alcohol  in  its 
actions,  and  its  important  work  of  preparing  the 
food  carried  to  it  and  making  it  ready  for  the  uses 
of  the  body,  its  office  of  making  blood,  of  changing 
waste  matter  so  that  it  can  be  carried  out  of  the 
system  by  other  organs,  and  its  work  of  secreting 
bile  are  all  imperfectly  done. 

This  defective  work  leads  to  general  derange- 
ment of  the  whole  system.  There  is  what  is  called 
biliousness  —  disturbance  of  the  stomach,  a  coated 
tongue,  foul  breath,  deranged  bowels,  headache, 
dizziness,  dimness  of  sight,  distressing  dreams,  a 
feeling  of  fullness  in  the  side  %and  stomach,  and 
general  uncomfortable  sensations.  Notwithstand- 
ing that  these  unpleasant  effects  are  so  frequently 
produced  by  what  are  regarded  as  moderate  quan- 
tities of  wine,  beer,  or  spirits,  yet  each  drink,  by 
its  narcotic  or  soothing  effect  upon  the  brain  and 
nerves,  may  make  the  person  feel  better  for  the 
time,  just  as  the  distress  produced  by  opium  eat- 
ing is  temporarily  relieved  by  repeating  the  dose. 


56  TEMPERANCE  TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

But  much  more  serious  effects  are  in  some  cases 
produced  by  alcoholics,  and  beer  is  more  apt  to  act 
in  the  way  about  to  be  mentioned  than  whiskey. 
An  accumulation  of  fat  is  often  produced  in  the 
liver,  causing  its  greater  and  more  permanent  en- 
largement, and  impairing  more  permanently  its 
action.  When  this  is  the  case  stopping  the  use  of 
the  drink  does  not  produce  the  same  rapid  improve- 
ment as  in  the  cases  before  mentioned.  But  where 
the  fat  is  deposited  between  the  proper  liver  cells 
or  structures,  without  taking  the  place  of  them, 
abstaining  from  drinking  may  in  time  be  followed 
by  much  improvement. 

There  is  another  fatty  change  much  worse  than 
this,  where  particles  of  fat  take  the  place  of  the 
structure.  This  is  called  fatty  degeneration,  and 
when  it  occurs  other  organs  are  likely  to  be  af- 
fected in  a  similar  way ;  and  this  disease  before  a 
great  while  ends  in  death. 

When  any  portion  of  the  liver  tissue  is  changed 
into  fat,  that  part  cannot  do  its  work,  and  as  the 
change  goes  on  action  will  cease  and  death  must 
follow. 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    LIVER.      57 

But  other  changes  take  place  in  the  liver,  and 
the  one  now  to  be  mentioned  is  oftener  produced 
by  ardent  spirits  than  by  beer  or  wine. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  young  people,  or  older 
ones,  who  have  not  learned  about  the  particular 
structures  of  the  body  will  not  be  able  fully  to  under- 
stand minute  descriptions  of  these  changes  should 
they  be  given,  and  such  persons  will  therefore  not 
be  interested  in  these  details.  But  some  useful 
ideas  on  the  subject  may  be  received  by  reading 
these  more  general  statements  ;  and  by  making  in- 
quiries of  parents  or  others  who  are  able  to  make 
explanations,  satisfactory  knowledge  may  be  ob- 
tained by  even  very  young  persons  who  are  desirous 
of  learning. 

I  will  here  only  say  that  there  is  a  disease  of  the 
liver  called  Cirrhosis  from  its  yellow  color,  and 
the  hob-nail  liver  from  there  being  upon  its  surface 
rounded  projections,  looking  like  the  large  nails 
on  the  soles  of  an  English  laborer's  shoes ;  and 
this  disease  is  also  called  gin-liver  from  its  always 
being  produced  by  drinking  strong  liquor.  The 
liver  though  swollen  at  first,  becomes  shrivelled 


58  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

and  much  smaller  later,  and  all  through  it  are  small 
masses  causing  the  inside  to  look  like  a  cake  of 
beeswax  in  which,  when  it  was  melted,  yellow 
peas  had  been  mixed. 

In  this  condition  the  blood  cannot  properly  cir- 
culate through  it,  it  cannot  perform  its  proper  func- 
tions, dropsy  follows;  and  when  the  disease  is 
established,  death  always  occurs  in  a  few  months, 
or  at  the  longest  in  a  very  few  years. 

As  with  certain  alcoholic  diseases  of  the  stomach, 
particularly  Cirrhosis  and  contraction  of  its  walls, 
even  the  abandonment  of  the  alcohol  comes  too 
late. 

This  Cirrhosis,  as  well  as  other  structural  alco- 
holic diseases,  is  more  likely  to  occur  from  steady 
drinking,  though  it  be  not  carried  to  the  extent  of 
positive  drunkenness,  than  from  occasional  de- 
bauches, however  excessive,  and  however  morally 
and  socially  degrading  and  disastrous.  These 
structural  changes  of  the  liver  from  the  effects  of 
alcohol,  though  sufficiently  common  to  be  very 
familiar  to  physicians,  are  not  nearly  so  frequent 
as  the  derangements  of  action  of  this  important 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    LIVER.      59 

organ  from  the  same  cause,  without  distinguishable 
changes  of  its  structure. 

Dr.  Murchison,  late  of  London,  a  physician  of  the 
very  highest  authority  on  this  subject,  in  his  stan- 
dard work  on  Diseases  of  the  Liver,  says  these 
affections  are  exceedingly  common  in  his  country ; 
and  Sir  Henry  Thompson,  one  of  the  very  first 
surgeons  of  the  present  time,  says,  "Few  are  aware 
of  the  great  mischief  which  what  is  regarded  as 
the  moderate  use  of  fermented  liquors  [  beer  and 
wine]  is  doing  in  England." 

Dr.  Murchison,  writing  on  the  management  of 
these  cases,  says:  "A  man  first  gives  up  malt 
liquors,  and  in  succession,  port  wine,  Madeira, 
champagne,  etc. ;  then  tries  brandy  or  whiskey 
largely  diluted  with  water.  At  last  unless  misled 
by  the  fashionable  [as  it  was  then  in  England] 
but  to  my  mind  erroneous  doctrine  of  the  present 
day,  that  alcohol  in  one  form  or  another  is  neces- 
sary for  digestion,  or  to  enable  a  man  to  get  through 
his  mental  or  bodily  work,  he  finds  that  he  enjoys 
best  health  when  he  abstains  altogether  from  wine 
and  spirits  in  any  form  or  quantity,  and  drinks 


60  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF   SCIENCE. 

plain  water."  The  particular  diseases  which  re- 
sult from  these  derangements  of  the  liver,  produced 
or  aggravated  by  alcoholics,  are  very  numerous. 
Dr.  Murchison  makes  nine  classes  with  several 
varieties  in  each  class.  Among  them  he  mentions 
as  very  frequent  in  England,  "  gout,  urinary  calculi, 
biliary  calculi,  degeneration  of  the  kidneys,  struc- 
tural diseases  of  the  liver,  and  in  fact  lowering 
and  degeneration  of  tissue  throughout  the  body." 

In  an  approach  to  old  age,  in  those  of  even 
moderate  alcoholic  habits,  there  is  a  likelihood  of 
fatty  and  calcareous  or  chalky  matter  taking  the 
place  of  natural  structures  throughout  the  body. 

The  increase  of  fat  so  frequent  in  beer  and  wine 
drinkers,  mostly  produced  by  the  action  of  these 
articles  upon  the  liver,  makes  some  people  think 
that  these  drinks  are  healthy,  but  such  fat  is  an 
evidence  of  deranged  nutrition  and  of  lowered 
life  power.  There  is  a  bloated  condition  which  in- 
terferes with  the  ability  to  labor,  and  prevents  the 
vigorous  action  of  all  the  life  forces.  In  the  latter 
stages  of  "  alcoholism  "  emaciation  may  take  place, 
especially  in  spirit  drinkers. 


ACTION   OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    LIVER.      6 1 

Bacchus,  the  god  of  drunkenness,  was  repre- 
sented by  the  ancients  as  corpulent,  never  as  ema- 
ciated ;  but  with  the  ancients  alcoholic  drinks  were 
in  the  form  of  wine,  not  made  stronger  by  the  ad- 
dition of  more  alcohol,  as  in  nearly  all  the  wines 
in  our  markets.  Still  some  old  drunkards  were 
doubtless  emaciated  in  the  times  of  Grecian  and 
Roman  art ;  but  it  was  not  the  object  of  that  art, 
as  it  is  not  the  object  of  much  of  our  literature,  to 
represent  the  repelling  evils  of  the  wine  cup,  but 
rather  to  paint  in  attractive  colors  its  short  and 
spurious  pleasures.  History  has  here  as  else  where 
repeated  itself. 

Ancient  art  represented  the  god  of  wine  in  the 
bloom  of  youth  and  in  rosy  plumpness,  concealing 
the  advanced  bloating,  and  the  occasional  haggard 
emaciation.  Modern  literature  sings  the  praises 
of  the  sparkling  wine,  but  fails  to  tell  of  the  woes 
which  follow.  The  inspiration  of  truth,  however, 
says,  At  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like 
an  adder.  . 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ACTION  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE  LUNGS. 

•» 

ALCOHOL,  though  first  carried  from  the 
stomach  to  the  liver,  making  there  an  early 
and  lasting  impression,  does  not  stop  there,  but  is 
carried  on  through  the  right  side  of  the  heart  to 
the  lungs;  and  its  action  upon  these  organs  will 
now  be  considered. 

When  the  alcohol  reaches  the  lungs  it  makes  an 
impression  upon  them ;  but  from  causes  now  to  be 
mentioned  its  immediate  local  effect  upon  them 
is  not  very  striking.  It  tends,  however,  to  produce 
an  impression  on  their  delicate  structures  similar 
to  its  first  local  effect  upon  the  stomach  and  liver, 
though  in  a  less  marked  degree.  The  small  blood- 
vessels are  doubtless  dilated  and  some  retardation 
of  the  circulation  through  them  results.  This, 

however,  is  not  great  when  only  a  moderate  quan- 
62 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    LUNGS.        63 

tity  is  taken,  and  observations  on  this  point  have 
not  been  exact  and  conclusive. 

The  lungs  are  exceedingly  porous,  filled  with 
open  tubes  and  minute  cells,  or  cavities,  which  are 
surprisingly  numerous  ;  and  as  the  lungs  are  large 
bodies  filling  nearly  the  whole  cavity  of  the  chest, 
the  surface  of  these  tubes  and  cells  is  wonderfully 
large.  All  the  blood  in  the  body  comes  to  the 
lungs  and  passes  through  them,  and  the  alcohol 
which  is  gradually  absorbed  and  brought  there  is 
mixed  with  so  large  a  quantity  of  blood,  and  is  dis- 
tributed over  so  large  an  area,  and  so  soon  passes 
on  to  the  left  side  of  the  heart  to  be  sent  to  all 
parts  of  the  body,  that  but  a  small  quantity  can 
at  any  one  time  be  present  in  any  particular  part ; 
hence  the  slighter  primary  local  effect  upon  the 
tissue  of  those  organs  than  upon  many  others.  ~Its 
effects,  however,  upon  the  actions  which  take  place 
here  are  more  important. 

The  function  of  the  lungs  is  to  change  the  blood 
from  an  impure,  dark,  venous  fluid,  unfit  for  the 
uses  of  the  system  and  even  poisonous  to  it,  to  a 
pure,  vivifying  one  which  is  essential  to  all  the 


64  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

activities  of  the  body.  This  change  is  effected  by 
the  oxygen  of  the  air  taken  in  by  the  act  of  breath- 
ing, a  portion  of  which  unites  with  certain  of  the 
impure  matters  in  the  blood,  changing  their  char- 
acters, and  causing  them  to  pass  out  of  the  body 
by  the  expelled  breath,  while  another  portion  of 
the  oxygen  unites  with  the  blood-corpuscles  and 
is  carried  by  them  to  the  rest  of  the  body,  impart- 
ing life  and  activity  to  all  the  parts  and  tissues. 

The  principal  material  in  the  blood  that  needs 
to  be  removed  is  carbon.  The  oxygen  unites  with 
this  material  and  produces  carbonic  acid  gas,  or, 
as  chemists  now  call  it,  dioxide  of  carbon.  If 
this,  or  its  base  —  the  carbon  — be  retained  in  the 
blood,  very  injurious  effects  result ;  and  this  gas 
passes  off  with  the  air  which  is  breathed  out.  The 
alcohol  which  is  in  the  blood  is  not  known  to  be 
oxidized  or  changed  in  the  lungs.  Some  passes 
off  in  vapor  with  the  breath,  but  most  of  it  passes 
on  with  the  blood  to  the  left  side  of  the  heart  to 
be  sent  to  the  rest  of  the  system. 

The  more  complete  the  oxidation  and  purifica- 
tion of  the  blood,  the  more  pure  oxygen  is  united 


ACTION   OF   ALCOHOL    UPON   THE   LUNGS.        65 

with  the  blood-corpuscles,  the  more  real  vigor  is 
imparted  to  the  system.  When  one  has  been  long 
in  a  close  room  where  the  air  is  exhausted  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  its  oxygen  and  is  contam- 
inated with  carbonic  acid,  the  blood  is  not  prop- 
erly purified  or  vivified  by  the  limited  oxygen,  and 
one  feels  stupid,  and  often  faint  and  dizzy.  Going 
into  the  pure,  open  air  will  produce  a  most  reviv- 
ing effect,  as  everybody  knows.  When  persons 
remain  a  large  part  of  the  time  in  a  confined  and 
impure  atmosphere,  or  when  from  any  cause  their 
blood  is  not  properly  purified  by  the  free  action  of 
the  oxygen  upon  it,  weakness  and  derangements 
follow,  severe  diseases  of  various  kinds  are  likely 
to  occur,  and  prominent  among  them  is  consump- 
tion. 

Now  it  is  well  known  that  the  presence  of  al- 
cohol in  the  blood  diminishes  the  action  of  oxygen 
on  the  carbon  and  other  impurities,  and  prevents 
the  complete  purification  of  the  blood  and  the 
perfect  change  of  venous  into  arterial  blood.  This 
is  proved  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  diminished 
quantity  of  carbonic  acid  given  off  in  the  breath 


66  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF   SCIENCE. 

of  one  who  has  been  drinking  alcoholics,  by  the 
blueness  of  the  surface  often  noticed,  caused  by 
the  darker  and  more  venous  blood  in  the  vessels ; 
and  it  is  also  proved  by  the  greater  liability  of 
drinking  persons  to  those  diseases  which  are  pro- 
duced or  made  worse  by  the  impurity  of  the  blood. 
The  warmth  of  the  body,  called  the  animal  heat, 
is  largely  caused  by  the  union  of  oxygen  with  car- 
bon and  hydrogen  in  the  lungs.  A  slow  kind  of 
combustion  or  burning  takes  place  there,  which, 
like  the  more  intense  burning  of  wood  or  coal, 
causes  heat.  It  is  well  known  by  all  physiologists 
that  when  alcohol  is  taken  less  heat  is  produced, 
and  that  this  diminution  is  in  proportion  to  the 
quantity  used.  From  the  narcotic  or  benumbing 
effect  of  the  alcohol  the  person  may  not  feel  colder, 
and  the  surface  of  the  body  by  expansion  of  the 
vessels  of  the  skin  may  have  more  blood  in  it,  and 
the  skin  is  sometimes  temporarily  warmer;  but 
the  blood  throughout  the  system  and  in  the  deeper 
parts  is  colder  as  is  shown  by  the  thermometer  in 
the  mouth;  and  it  is  well  known  that  persons 
under  the  influence  of  liquor  perish  much  sooner 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    LUNGS.         67 

when  exposed  to  the  cold.  No  physiologist  or 
intelligent  doctor  will  deny  these  statements;  and 
their  truth  is  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  all 
arctic  explorers  — by  Dr.  Kane  among  others.  All 
this  goes  to  prove  that  alcohol  diminishes  combus- 
tion, heat-production,  and  purification  in  the  lungs, 
and  contributes  to  all  the  results  dependent  upon 
such  diminution. 

From  the  general  effect  of  alcohol  in  lowering 
and  perverting  vitality  and  nutrition,  the  lungs 
suffer  with  other  tissues  of  the  body,  and  several 
diseases  of  these  organs  are  more  likely  to  occur 
in  those  using  this  article ;  and  these  diseases, 
when  occurring  from  any  cause,  are  much  more 
likely  to  be  severe.  When  inflammation  of  the 
lungs  attacks  a  free  drinker,  a  fatal  result  is  vastly 
more  likely  to  occur  than  when  it  attacks  one 
who  abstains.  All  medical  men  are  agreed  in 
this. 

Some  years  ago  an  opinion  originated  in  this 
country  (it  was  not  received  from  any  authority 
abroad)  and  became  quite  prevalent  even  among 
physicians,  that  the  use  of  alcoholics,  particularly 


68          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

of  whiskey,  in  free  quantities,  tended  to  prevent 
that  dreaded  disease  of  the  lungs,  consumption. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  precisely  how  this  opinion 
obtained  such  prevalence,  as  investigation  shows 
that  no  substantial  ground  exists  for  it.  It  was 
probably,  however,  the  result  of  an  extreme  reac- 
tion from  the  bleeding  and  other  depressing  treat- 
ment in  this  disease,  and  from  the  mistaken 
opinion  that  alcohol  was  essentially  a  tonic  and 
supporting  agent.  It  is  most  rational  to  conclude 
that  anything  which  lowers  the  vitality  and  integ- 
rity of  tissues,  as  certainly  the  free  use  of  alcohol 
is  known  to  do,  will  tend  to  the  production  of  a 
disease  which  is  acknowledged  to  depend  upon 
depressing  influences,  and  diminished  life  force. 
This  conclusion  of  reason  is  sustained  by  carefully 
observed  facts. 

There  are  no  statistics  —  no  recorded  observa- 
tions and  comparisons  of  numbers  of  cases  —  which 
afford  the  slightest  indication  that  the  use  of  alcohol 
in  any  form  or  quantity  prevents  consumption. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  an  elaborate  discussion 
of  this  subject,  but  some  things  may  be  mentioned, 


ACTION   OF   ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    LUNGS.        69 

which  even  the  younger  readers  of  these  chapters 
can  understand. 

British  soldiers,  when  in  their  own  islands  in 
time  of  peace  and  living  in  barracks,  are  well 
known  to  be  free  drinkers.  In  proof  of  this  the 
second  most  frequent  severe  disease  among  them 
is  delirium  tremens,  which  occurs  only  in  free 
drinkers.  At  the  same  time  the  most  frequent 
serious  and  fatal  disease  among  them  is  consump- 
tion. It  is  stated  upon  the  authority  of  Dr.  Lom- 
bard, in  his  Treatise  on  Medical  Climatology,  that 
forty-six  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  deaths  in  the 
English  army  in  garrison  at  home  are  from  con- 
sumption. If  whiskey  prevented  the  disease  in 
any  degree  it  is  readily  seen  that  this  would  not 
be  the  case.  It  never  happened  among  any  large 
number  of  abstaining  temperance  people,  that 
forty-six  per  cent.,  or  almost  one  half,  had  con- 
sumption, or  that  this  proportion  of  deaths  was 
from  that  disease.  The  statistics  of  this  army 
show  that  alcoholic  drinking  is  a  cause  rather  than 
a  prevention  of  consumption. 

As    the   opinion  is  still    entertained    by  some 


70  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

(though  fortunately  not  by  as  many  as  a  few  years 
ago)  that  whiskey  antagonizes  and  prevents  con- 
sumption, and  as  it  is  still  taken  for  that  purpose, 
the  opinions  of  some  of  the  highest  medical  author- 
ities, men  who  have  given  special  attention  to  the 
disease,  may  be  referred  too. 

No  man  is  higher  authority  on  this  subject  than 
Doctor  Lebert,  a  voluminous  writer  and  original 
investigator,  and  who  has  had  an  extensive  prac- 
tice in  this  disease  in  Germany,  France,  and  Switz- 
erland. He  emphatically  states  and  reiterates,  that 
the  free  use  of  alcohol  is  a  cause  of  consumption, 
and  nowhere  in  his  work  on  the  subject  does  he 
intimate  that  in  any  quantity  it  antagonizes  or  pre- 
vents the  disease. 

In  England  no  names  are  of  higher  authority 
on  this  subject  than  those  of  Doctors  Williams, 
Chambers,  and  Peacock.  None  of  them  intimate 
that  alcohol  prevents  consumption,  but  all  state 
that  its  free  use  is  among  the  prominent  causes  of 
the  disease,  particularly  of  the  variety  called  fibroid 
consumption.  In  London  there  is  a  large  Insti- 
tution called  the  "  Brompton  Hospital  for  Con- 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    LUNGS.         71 

sumptives,"  where  large  numbers  of  these  cases 
are  treated,  and  the  disease  and  all  its  relations, 
its  causes,  treatment,  and  the  changes  which  occur 
from  it  in  the  lungs,  are  carefully  studied.  One 
of  the  physicians  there,  Dr.  R.  E.  Thompson,  in  a 
work  on  the  examination  of  such  cases,  declares 
that  "  alcoholic  intemperance  has  a  very  distinct 
effect  upon  the  condition  not  only  of  the  body  gen- 
erally, but  also  especially  upon  the  lungs."  He 
speaks  of  a  particular  form  of  the  disease  in  free 
beer-drinkers,  and  another,  the  fibroid  form,  in 
spirit-drinkers,  and  speaks  of  these  forms  of  the 
affection  as  produced  by  these  indulgences.  In- 
deed, the  Fibroid  form  of  consumption  is  by  all 
medical  writers  allowed  to  be  most  frequently  pro- 
duced by  the  use  of  alcohol.  Other  authorities  of 
an  equally  high  character  might  be  referred  to. 
My  own  opinion,  the  result  of  long  experience  in 
private  and  hospital  practice,  is  that  alcohol  has 
no  claim  to  be  regarded  as  antagonizing  consump- 
tion, or  as  preventive  of  the  disease  —  none  what- 
ever—  but  that  it  is  the  chief  cause  Df  what  is 
called  Fibroid  Phthisis.  I  have  seen  many  made 


72  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

drunkards,  some  in  whom  I  had  the  greatest  friend- 
ly and  fraternal  interest ;  but  I  have  never  seen  a 
case  where  I  had  evidence  that  whiskey  prevented 
or  cured  the  disease. 

An  irritated  and  inflamed  condition  of  the  throat, 
often  extending  to  the  tubes  of  the  lungs,  produc- 
ing a  hoarseness  and  a  husky  cough,  especially  in 
the  morning,  is  a  common  occurrence  in  free  drink- 
ers. 

I  have  dwelt  so  long  upon  this  subject  because 
of  its  great  importance  —  because  so  many  have 
been  led  into  injurious  and  fatal  practices  from 
what  I  am  confident  are  false  views.  May  not 
this  be  another  instance  illustrative  of  the  wisdom 
and  truth  of  the  Scriptural  declaration,  that  Wine 
is  a  mocker,  strong  drink  is  raging,  and  whosoever 
is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ACTION    OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON   THE    HEART. 

THE  subject  of  the  action  of  alcohol  upon  the 
heart  is  of  great  importance.  There  is  an 
old  and  still-prevailing  opinion,  even  among  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  profession,  that  the  different 
alcoholic  liquors  stimulate  that  organ,  whatever 
else  they  may  do ;  that  is,  that  they  increase  its 
power  and  cause  it  to  circulate  the  blood  with 
more  activity  and  force  ;  and  it  is  for  this  sup- 
posed effect  that  they  are  most  frequently  pre- 
scribed as  medicines,  and  taken  as  fancied  aids  in 
the  performance  of  labor.  The  expression  that 
"  Wine  cheers  the  heart,"  is  regarded  as  meaning 
that  it  strengthens  and  sustains  its  physical  action, 
and  that  it  or  some  other  alcoholic  liquor  is  use- 
ful, if  not  positively  needed,  in  low  conditions  of 
the  system  with  feeble  heart  force,  and  that  it 
73 


74  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

acts  as  a  strengthener  or  tonic.  That  under 
peculiar  circumstances  of  shock  or  great  suffering 
a  stimulating  effect  is  temporarily  realized  from 
alcohol,  I  am  not  prepared  to  deny;  but  that  this 
is  its  most  essential  action,  or  that  it  acts  thus  at 
all  in  ordinary  conditions,  is  opposed  to  the  pres- 
ent state  of  physiological  knowledge.  The  truth 
in  this  matter  it  will  be  one  of  the  objects  of  this 
chapter  to  set  forth. 

In  preceding  chapters  we  have  traced  the  alco- 
hol which  has  entered  the  stomach  into  the  blood, 
through  the  liver,  and  into  the  lungs.  When  it 
reaches  these  last  organs,  a  small  part  of  it  imme- 
diately passes  off  in  the  breath,  giving  an  odor 
which  is  readily  perceived.  But  very  much  the 
greater  portion  is  hurried  on  with  the  blood  to  the 
left  side  of  the  heart,  and  from  this  through  the 
arteries  to  every  part  of  the  body,  and  in  the  round 
of  the  circulation  comes  back  to  the  heart.  While 
in  that  organ  in  its  first  and  subsequent  passages 
it  makes  an  impression  upon  it,  and  the  character 
of  that  impression  is  what  at  present  interests  us. 

The  decision  of  the  question  as  to  whether  it 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    HEART.     75 

directly  increases  or  depresses  the  heart's  action 
by  its  presence  there,  does  not  positively  deter- 
mine the  more  important  question  as  to  its  benefi- 
cial or  injurious  effects,  either  in  health  or  disease ; 
but  such  decision  establishes  principles  which  have 
a  most  important  bearing  upon  the  practical  ques- 
tion of  its  utility  or  harmfulness  in  various  condi- 
tions. 

It  is  held  by  physiologists  that  the  direct  action 
of  an  agent  upon  the  muscular  tissue  and  nerves 
of  the  heart,  and  upon  its  power  and  motions,  is 
essentially  the  same  in  the  lower  animals  and  in 
man,  and  that  whatever  effect  is  demonstrated  in 
the  one  is  regarded  as  proof  of  the  same  in  the 
other.  It  is  this  similarity  in  animals  and  man  that 
makes  experiments  upon  animals  of  such  great  im- 
portance to  the  interests  of  humanity. 

Within  the  last  few  years  experiments  of  the 
most  exact  and  conclusive  character  have  been 
made  by  skilled  investigators,  to  determine  the 
action  of  alcohol  on  the  hearts  of  animals.  To 

give  the  details  of  such  experiments,  even  if  fully 

% 

intelligible  to  young  readers,  would  occupy  more 


76  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

space  than  is  at  our  command.  I  must  be  content 
with  stating  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  acknowl- 
edged experts  of  the  highest  authority  in  these 
modes  of  investigation. 

Among  the  most  careful  and  skilful  experiments 
on  this  subject  are  those  of  Drs.  Sidney  Ringer 
and  Harrington  Gainsbury,  of  London,  reported  in 
The  Practitioner  (a  leading  medical  journal)  for 
May,  1883,  and  restated  by  myself,  with  comments, 
in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, Vol.  i,  p.  272. 

These  experiments  made  upon  the  hearts  of 
frogs  were  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  determin- 
ing the  comparative  effects  of  the  different  alco- 
hols in  their  direct  action  upon  that  organ.  It 
was  found  that  all  the  alcohols  (including  common 
alcohol,  the  active  principle  in  all  our  liquors) 
diminished  the  force  of  the  heart's  action,  and 
arrested  it  in  a  shorter  or  longer  time,  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  respective  arti- 
cles and  the  quantity  applied.  A  long  series  of 
experiments  furnished  the  same  results  and  dem- 
onstrated their  correctness.  Common  alcohol  is 


ACTION  OF  ALCOHOLICS  UPON  THE  HEART.  77 

weaker  and  lighter  than  some  of  the  other  rarer 
alcohols,  but  heavier  and  stronger  than  others; 
but  the  effect  in  character  was  the  same  in  all, 
differing  only  in  degree.  These  eminent  experi- 
menters, in  closing  their  report  on  these  articles, 
declared :  "  That  by  their  direct  action  upon  the 
cardiac  tissue,  these  drugs  are  clearly  paralyzant 
(and  not  stimulating),  and  that  this  appears  to  be 
the  case  from  the  outset,  no  stage  of  increased  force 
or  contraction  preceding" 

Professor  Martin,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
Baltimore,  who  has  written  an  excellent  work  on 
Physiology,  and  who  stands  among  the  very  high- 
est in  this  country  as  an  experimental  physiologist, 
has  made  experiments  on  the  heart  of  the  dog, 
with  the  view  of  determining  the  precise  effect  of 
common  alcohol,  when  in  the  blood  in  certain  pro- 
portions, upon  that  organ.  A  report  of  his  exper- 
iments was  published  in  the  Maryland  Medical 
Journal  for  September,  1883.  Professor  Martin 
states  the  results  of  his  exact  and  conclusive  obser- 
vations as  follows  :  "  Blood  containing  one  eighth 
per  cent,  of  alcohol  [that  is,  in  the  proportion  of 


78          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

one  eighth  of  an  ounce,  or  one  teaspoonful,  to  one 
hundred  ounces,  or  six  and  a  quarter  pints]  has 
no  immediate  perceptible  action  on  the  isolated 
heart.  Blood  containing  one  fourth  per  cent,  by 
volume  [that  is,  two  teaspoonfuls  to  six  pints  and 
a  quarter]  almost  invariably  remarkably  diminishes 
within  a  minute  the  work  done  by  the  heart ;  blood 
containing  one  half  per  cent.,  that  is  five  parts  in 
a  thousand  [or  four  teaspoonfuls  to  six  pints  and 
a  quarter],  always  diminished  it,  and  may  even  bring 
the  amount  pumped  out  of  the  left  ventricle  to  so 
small  a  quantity  that  it  is  not  sufficient  to  supply 
the  coronary  arteries." 

Professor  Martin  estimates  that  an  ordinary, 
and  what  would  be  regarded  as  a  moderate,  drink 
of  brandy  or  whiskey,  containing  half  an  ounce  of 
pure  alcohol,  or  an  ounce  of  the  whiskey  or  brandy, 
would  supply  to  the  blood  of  an  ordinary  sized  man 
the  proportion  of  two  and  a  half  parts  per  thou- 
sand, the  quantity  he  always  found  diminishing  so 
positively  the  force  of  the  heart's  action,  as  tested 
upon  the  heart  of  the  dog  by  instruments  of  pre- 
cision. The  results  of  these  experiments  have  not 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    HEART.     79 

been  contradicted  by  any  other  experiments  of  a 
similar  character,  and  they  conclusively  prove  that 
the  direct  action  of  alcohol  on  the  heart  is  paralyz- 
ing, and  not  stimulating. 

It  is  true  that  alcohol  often,  indeed,  generally, 
increases  ft&  frequency  f&  the  heart's  action  but  not 
\\sforce,  when  in  a  previously  healthy  state  ;  except 
perhaps  in  cases  where  it  excites  feverishness, 
which  is  a  diseased  condition.  Great  frequency 
of  the  pulse  is  an  evidence  of  weakness  rather 
than  of  strength. 

These  conclusions  of  scientific  experiment  are 
not  contradicted  by  correct  observations  upon 
persons.  In  faintness  or  depression  from  the 
shock  of  an  injury  or  great  suffering,  a  dose  of 
alcohol,  like  a  dose  of  opium,  or  the  inhalation  of 
chloroform  or  ether,  by  relieving  the  shock  or  the 
suffering,  will  often  temporarily  increase  the  action 
of  the  heart,  by  its  soothing  action  through  the 
brain  and  nerves ;  but  this  action  is  indirect  and 
not  permanent,  and  when  no  morbid  condition  is 
present  to  be  relieved  by  its  anodyne  action,  the 
alcohol,  like  opium  and  chloroform,  produces  de- 


8o  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

pression  and  diminishes  action.  Either  of  these 
articles  may  relieve  a  sense  of  weakness  without 
producing  strength. 

The  temporary  effect  of  alcohol  in  relieving 
shock,  and  the  relief  it  often  affords  to  the  feeling 
of  fatigue,  together  with  the  slight  and  brief  ex- 
citement it  sometimes  produces  when  first  taken 
into  the  stomach,  have  given  and  keep  up  the 
notion  of  its  essential  stimulating  effect  upon  the 
heart,  which  is  so  positively  disproved  by  direct 
experiments  and  accurate  observations.  There  is 
an  instrument  called  a  sphygmograph  which,  when 
applied  over  an  artery,  as  to  the  pulse  at  the  wrist, 
accurately  measures  and  records  the  force  with 
which  the  heart  sends  the  blood  through  the  ves- 
sel. It  is  proved  by  this,  as  well  as  by  the  exper- 
iments on  animals,  that  a  healthy  heart  has  its 
force  diminished,  rather  than  increased,  by  alcohol 
taken  into  the  blood  and  carried  to  it.  It  is  well 
known  that  extreme  doses  arrest  the  action  of  the 
heart,  and  the  person  dies  with  this  organ  para- 
lyzed and  distended. 

But  in  corroboration  of  these  more  conclusive 


ACTION   OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON   THE    HEART.     8 1 

experiments  we  have  the  opinions  of  those  who 
have  most  carefully  investigated  the  action  of  al- 
coholics upon  the  human  body,  and  especially 
upon  the  heart,  by  the  common  methods  of  scien- 
tific observation.  No  man  has  given  this  subject 
more  careful  attention  than  the  late  Dr.  Anstie  of 
London.  He  concludes  his  statement  respecting 
it  by  the  following  declaration  :  "  A  general  review 
of  the  phenomena  of  alcohol-narcosis  enables  me 
to  com  3  to  the  distinct  conclusion,  the  importance 
of  which  appears  to  be  very  great,  namely,  that 
(as  in  the  case  of  chloroform  and  ether)  the 
symptoms  which  are  so  commonly  described  as 
evidences  of  excitement  depending  on  a  stimula- 
tion of  the  nervous  system  [and  through  it  he 
might  have  added,  of  the  heart]  preliminary  to 
the  occurrence  of  narcosis,  are  in  reality  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  narcotic,  that  is,  the  paralytic  phe- 
nomena." 

Dr.  Samuel  Wilks,  of  London,  one  of  the  high- 
est living  authorities  in  the  medical  profession  in 
England,  says :  "Alcohol,  for  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, may  be  regarded  as  a  sedative  or  narcotic 


82  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

rather  than  a  stimulant."  These  declarations  ap- 
ply to  the  heart  as  well  as  to  other  parts  of  the 
body. 

No  man  in  this  country  has  studied  the  action 
of  alcohol  on  the  body  longer  or  more  carefully 
than  Dr.  N.  S.  Davis  of  Chicago.  He  has  come 
to  conclusions  entirely  in  accordance  with  those 
already  quoted.  The  effects  of  alcohol  taken  in 
the  common  manner  are,  he  says,  "  those  of  an 
anaesthetic  and  organic  sedative"  Other  authority 
to  the  same  effect  might  be  quoted,  but  the  fore- 
going must  suffice. 

Facts  in  the  personal  experience  of  individuals, 
and  in  observations  of  large  bodies  of  men,  are 
quite  as  conclusive  in  proving  that  alcohol  pro- 
duces weakness  of  the  body,  including  the  heart, 
rather  than  strength.  It  is  now  well  known  and 
acknowledged  by  scientific  men,  that  less  muscular 
labor  can  be  performed  under  the  influence  of 
alcohol,  in  whatever  quantity,  than  without  it.  In 
the  performance  of  great  feats  of  strength  and  en- 
durance, as  in  the  case  of  Weston,  the  famous 
pedestrian,  alcohol  has  been  avoided ;  and  in  the 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE    HEART.     83 


harvest  field  and  the  workshop,  and  with  contest- 
ants in  ancient  Roman  games,  the  advantage  has 
ever  been  with  abstainers.  The  most  conclusive 
tests  have  been  in  armies  in  severe  marches,  where 
accurate  observations  on  a  large  scale  have  been 
made  by  intelligent  medical  and  commanding  offi- 
cers. In  all  such  tests,  whether  in  hot  or  cold 
climates  and  seasons  —  in  Africa,  India,  Russia, 
and  Canada  —  in  our  own  country,  and  everywhere, 
it  has  been  shown  that  those  soldiers  who  ab- 
stained from  alcohol  could  accomplish  and  endure 
more  than  those  who  indulged  in  it,  however  mod- 
erately or  freely.  In  emergencies,  those  officers 
who  allow  its  use  at  all,  find  that  it  must  be  given 
when  the  men  have  accomplished  their  day's  work, 
and  are  resting  after  their  labor.  It  may  then 
blunt  the  sense  of  fatigue,  and  promote  sleep,  but, 
unfortunately,  it  lessens  the  power  of  work  for  the 
next  day,  and  if  its  use  becomes  habitual,  other 
mischief,  as  we  shall  see,  will  be  done.  The  effects 
of  the  habitual  or  long-continued  use  of  alcoholics 
upon  the  heart  are  similar  to  those  upon  the  body 
at  large.  Whether  taken  in  the  form  of  beer, 


84          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

wine,  or  spirits,  the  general  effect  is,  lowering  of 
vitality,  degeneration  of  structure,  and  diminution  of 
power.  That  the  heart  is  rendered  more  liable  to 
undergo  morbid  structural  changes,  all  patholo- 
gists  know.  As  with  the  liver,  it  is  more  liable  to 
become  loaded  with  and  obstructed  by  fat,  and  to 
undergo  fatty  degeneration.  Its  vessels,  its  valves, 
and  its  general  tissues  are  more  likely  to  be  im- 
paired, and  its  force  abates  at  a  much  earlier 
period ;  and  these  effects  are  likely  to  be  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  taken.  In  wine  drinkers 
the  condition  called  the  "  gouty  heart "  is  a  not 
unfrequent  occurrence.  The  heart  is  then  liable 
to  attacks  of  severe  pain,  of  irregular  actions,  and 
of  sudden  failure.  It  is  often  the  seat  of  "  mis- 
placed "  gouty  inflammation  ;  and  gout,  in  whatever 
form,  is  always  the  result  of  indulgence  in  alcohol, 
either  by  the  individual  or  his  ancestors.  The 
gout  is  unknown  among  peoples,  such  as  the  Mo- 
homedans,  who  have  never  used  alcoholics. 

Notwithstanding  the  essential  weakening  effect 
of  alcohol  upon  the  heart,  in  those  who  have  es- 
tablished the  alcohol  habit,  as  with  those  who 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOLICS    UPON    THE   HEART.     85 

have  established  the  opium  or  the  tobacco  habit, 
the  privation  of  the  accustomed  indulgence  is 
often  followed  by  a  feeling  of  depression,  and 
sometimes  of  real  weakness,  which  will  be  relieved 
by  a  repetition  of  the  dose.  No  one  supposes  that 
tobacco  is  a  strengthening  article,  and  yet  it  in- 
creases the  strength  of  an  habitual  user  who  has 
for  a  short  time  been  deprived  of  it.  It  is  so  with 
alcohol  when  an  habitual,  but  not  an  excessive, 
quantity  is  taken.  This  effect  contributes  to  the 
false  belief  that  it  is  a  stimulating  or  strengthening 
agent. 

I  have  occupied  so  much  space  on  this  subject 
because  of  its  great  importance,  and  because  of 
the  prevailing  errors  respecting  it;  and  have 
treated  it  by  reference  to  scientific  experiments 
and  medical  authorities  (which  may  seem  better 
adapted  to  an  advanced  class  of  medical  students 
than  to  young  and  non-professional  readers) 
because  there  seemed  no  other  way  of  conveying 
truths  in  a  convincing  manner,  that  are  essentially 
scientific.  Long  established  and  prevailing  error 
is  not  to  be  overcome  by  the  unreasoning  declara- 


86  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

tions  of  a  single  individual,  without  appealing  to 
other  authority,  and  to  well  observed  and  recorded 
facts.  Technical  language  has  been  avoided  as 
much  as  it  seems  possible  to  do  in  the  discussion 
of  a  physiological  subject. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

EFFECTS   OF    ALCOHOL    ON   THE    KIDNEYS. 

THE  kidneys  are  two  darkish  red  organs, 
about  four  inches  in  length,  two  in  breadth, 
and  one  inch  in  thickness,  with  a  convex  outer  and 
a  concave  inner  surface,  situated  one  on  each  side 
of  the  abdomen,  the  right  just  below  the  liver,  and 
the  left  below  the  stomach  and  spleen,  and  both, 
near  the  backbone.  Their  office  is  to  carry  out  of 
the  body,  by  straining  them  from  the  blood,  various 
substances  dissolved  in  that  fluid,  and  held  in  solu- 
tion by  the  water  passing  out  with  them.  Some  of 
these  substances  are  formed  in  the  body  from  worn- 
out  materials  of  tissues,  and  some  are  matters  taken 
into  the  system  from  without,  and  which  are  not 
appropriated  to  its  uses. 

The  kidneys  are  supplied  with  large  blood  vessels 
which  carry  to  and  from  them  large  quantities  of 
87 


88          TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

blood ;  and  the  water,  with  the  other  ingredients 
in  it,  which  is  separated  from  the  blood  is  conveyed 
from  each  of  these  organs  by  a  tube  to  the  bladder, 
from  which  from  time  to  time  it  is  expelled  as  waste 
and  useless  or  injurious  matter. 

This  is  an  office  so  important  that  if  it  is  sus- 
pended for  any  considerable  time,  blood  and  tissue 
poisoning,  and  especially  brain  poisoning,  is  pro- 
duced, and  death  soon  follows.  If  this  office  is 
imperfectly  performed,  more  or  less  derangement 
results  according  to  the  degree  of  such  imperfection. 
Whatever,  then,  injures  the  kidneys  and  impairs 
their  action  inflects  a  serious  injury  upon  the  sys- 
tem. We  are  now  to  consider  the  action  of  alcohol 
on  these  organs. 

Any  substance  taken  into  the  body  and  passing 
into  the  blood,  and  not  changed  in  its  form  or  appro- 
priated to  the  uses  of  the  system,  is  carried  out  of 
it,  and  to  a  large  extent  by  the  kidneys.  Poisons 
and  medicines  are  thus  removed  from  the  blood  as 
it  is  constantly  passing  through  these  organs.  As 
alcohol  is  not  digested  in  the  stomach  but  passes 
unchanged  into  the  blood,  and  is  not  converted,  or, 


EFFECTS    OF   ALCOHOL    ON    THE    KIDNEYS.        89 

if  at  all,  only  in  small  quantities,  into  any  other  sub- 
stances to  be  appropriated  to  any  uses  in  the 
system,  it  is  certainly  mostly  carried  out  of  the 
body  as  it  entered  it,  partly  by  the  lungs  and  skin, 
giving  its  odor  to  the  breath  and  the  perspiration, 
but  largely  also  by  the  kidneys.  It  thus  comes  in 
contact  with  the  very  delicate  structure  of  these 
organs,  and  makes  its  impression  upon  them. 

As  is  the  case  with  other  organs,  that  impression 
varies  with  the  quantity  taken,  with  the  length  of 
time  it  is  used,  and  with  the  power  of  resistance  to 
morbid  impressions. 

The  first  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  kidneys,  as  it 
passes  through  them  in  the  current  of  blood  which 
goes  to  them  for  purification,  is  to  produce  more  or 
less  irritation.  This  is  marked  in  some  instances 
and  scarcely  perceptible  in  others.  It  should  be 
understood  that  the  liver,  the  lungs,  the  heart,  and 
the  kidneys  have  large  quantities  of  blood  carried 
to  them  to  be  acted  upon  by  these  organs  respect- 
ively, as  well  as  blood  to  nourish  them  in  common 
with  all  other  organs. 

The  vessels  conveying  the  blood  to  and  through 


90  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

the  kidneys  for  whatever  purpose,  are  dilated  by 
the  alcohol,  the  organs  are  more  or  less  congested, 
and  usually  their  secretion  is  temporarily  increased. 
Sometimes  decided  inflammation  of  these  organs  is 
induced  by  this  irritation,  especially  where  a  free 
quantity  of  the  alcohol  is  taken,  or  if  in  addition  there 
is  exposure  to  cold  and  wet,  as  when  .in  a  state  of 
intoxication  one  is  exposed  to  rain,  or  lies  upon 
the  ground.  Cases  are  not  infrequent  where, 
after  a  fit  of  drunkenness  and  the  exposure  apt  to 
attend  it,  an  acute  inflammation  results,  with  such 
impairment  of  the  structure  and  action  of  the  kid- 
neys as  to  lead  to  convulsions  and  death,  or  to 
the  laying  of  the  foundation  for  general  dropsy, 
and  other  forms  of  more  chronic  but  equally  fatal 
disease. 

The  most  frequent  morbid  effect  on  the  kidneys 
of  the  long  continued  indulgence  in  alcohol  is  the 
much  dreaded  and  generally  fatal  Bright's  Disease. 
This  affection  is  not  always  produced  by  alcohol, 
but  all  agree  that  tippling  is  the  most  frequent 
cause  of  its  occurrence.  In  this  disease  the  kid- 
neys, by  repeated  irritation  and  a  slow  inflain- 


EFFECTS   OF    ALCOHOL    ON    THE    KIDNEYS.        91 

mation,  undergo  such  changes  that  they  fail  to 
separate  from  the  blood  the  materials  that  should 
be  carried  out  of  the  system,  and  these  matters, 
being  retained,  poison  the  brain  and  other  parts, 
causing  a  variety  of  diseased  conditions  and  symp- 
toms. The  kidneys  are  in  some  stages  and  cases 
enlarged,  and  in  others  contracted.  They  undergo 
fatty  and  other  forms  of  degeneration,  and  the 
symptoms  produced  are  dropsy,  debility,  blindness, 
paralysis  or  loss  of  power,  stupor,  convulsions,  and, 
almost  certainly  in  time,  death. 

Besides  failing  to  carry  off  these  injurious  mat- 
ters, the  kidneys,  by  these  changes  which  they  under- 
go, allow  the  rich  portions  of  the  blood  (the  albu- 
men) to  pass  through  them,  thus  depriving  the  body 
of  nutritious  elements,  aiding  in  the  promotion  of 
weakness,  paleness,  and  exhaustion,  increasing  the 
dropsy,  and  hastening  the  patient  on  to  a  fatal  end. 

A  particular  condition  of  the  kidney  sometimes 
occurs,  called  the  Gouty  Kidney.  This  is  asso- 
ciated with  other  symptoms  of  gout,  and  is  a  form 
of  Bright's  Disease,  attended  with  its  consequences ; 
and  gout  is  dependent  upon  the  use  of  alcohol, 


92  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

either  in  the  individual  or  his  ancestors.  Those 
peoples,  as  the  Mahomedans,  who,  from  their  relig- 
ious teachings,  or  from  other  causes,  abstain  from 
wine  and  other  alcoholics,  never  have  this  disease 
so  common  in  wine  and  beer  drinking  England. 

Alcohol,  in  all  its  combinations  in  different 
liquors,  in  its  action  upon  the  kidneys,  whenever 
its  effects  are  noticeable,  produces  nothing  but 
mischief,  and  no  intelligent  physician  pretends  that 
it  serves  any  useful  purpose  so  far  as  these  organs 
are  concerned. 

I  remember  meeting  a  prominent  medical  gen- 
tleman of  my  acquaintance  years  ago,  when  the 
subject  of  the  use  of  alcohol  was  introduced,  In 
opposition  to  my  own  views  he  contended  that, 
when  used  "  temperately,"  it  was  not  objectionable. 
He  said,  no  man  abhorred  drunkenness  or  despised 
drunkards  more  than  he.  He  said  he  was  never 
drunk  in  his  life,  and  to  the  end  I  presume  he  never 
was.  He  never  drank  in  saloons,  and  very  seldom 
at  other  than  meal  times  ;  but  his  bottle  of  whiskey, 
he  said,  was  on  his  table  and  by  his  plate  as  regu- 
larly as  his  knife  and  fork,  and  he  always  took  a 


EFFECTS   OF   ALCOHOL    ON    THE    KIDNEYS.        93 

drink  with  his  food.  His  digestion  was,  he 
thought,  not  impaired  by  it,  and  his  sensations 
were  more  agreeable  and  his  general  condition 
better,  when  he  took  his  accustomed  dram,  than 
when  on  rare  occasions  he  went  without  it. 

As  for  the  example,  he  said  he  was  not  responsi- 
ble for  others'  excesses,  and,  in  fact,  he  said  he  set 
a  good  example  by  his  moderation.  He  should 
therefore  continue  to  have  his  whiskey  bottle  by 
his  plate  and  use  it  as  he  had  done.  No  more 
favorable  statement  in  favor  of  its  use  than  this  can 
be  made,  and  he  used  it  in  a  manner  as  little  likely 
to  do  harm,  considering  the  amount  taken  and  its 
continuance,  as  was  possible. 

Taken  with  his  food  and  mingled  with  it,  and 
diluted  with  water,  though  probably  neutralizing  a 
portion  of  the  gastric  juice,  it  was  not  applied  in 
a  concentrated  form  to  the  coats  of  his  stomach ; 
and  it  produced  but  little  or  no  apparent  irritation 
there.  It  was  slowly  introduced  into  the  blood, 
and  no  sudden  or  strong  impression  seemed  to 
be  made  upon  the  liver,  the  lungs,  the  heart,  or 
the  brain.  His  sensations  were  more  agreeable 


94  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

after  each  dose,  on  the  same  principle  that  opium, 
tobacco,  and  other  narcotics  than  alcohol  produce 
agreeable  sensations.  They  all  produce  more 
agreeable  feelings  than  those  which  are  experienced 
when  the  accustomed  quantity  is  omitted.  These 
feelings  of  uneasiness,  of  depression,  and  distress, 
that  result  from  abstinence  from  the  indulgence, 
though  produced  by  the  habit,  are  wonderfully  re- 
lieved for  the  time  by  a  repetition  of  the  usual  dose. 

But  the  alcohol,  however  taken,  must  be  gotten 
rid  of,  and  a  large  portion  of  it  is  carried  out  by  the 
kidneys.  Its  repeated  and  long  continued  pres- 
ence in  them  is  apt  to  tell  upon  these  organs  ;  and 
in  the  case  of  this  gentleman,  in  two  or  three  years 
after  this  conversation,  he  was  reported  to  have 
Bright's  Disease  of  the  kidneys,  and  soon  after  re- 
tired from  his  city  work  to  the  country,  where  in  a 
few  months  he  died,  in  the  prime  of  his  years. 

This  is  not  a  solitary  case.  It  is  rather  a  typical 
example,  and  it  illustrates  the  insidious  manner  in 
which  this  deceiver  often  produces  in  the  end  its 
evil  effects. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM    AND    NARCOTICS. 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  the  effects  of  alcohol 
upon  those  organs  of  the  body  directly  con- 
cerned in  digestion,  nutrition,  respiration,  circula- 
tion, secretion,  and  the  purification  of  the  blood, 
were  discussed.  These  all  are  important  organs, 
and  the  functions  they  perform  are  indispensable. 
When  these  organs  are  diseased  —  when  they  are 
lowered  in  their  vitality  and  degenerated  in  their 
structure,  in  the  manner  that  alcohol  tends  to  affect 
them  —  the  whole  system  suffers,  but  this  suffering 
is  primarily  and  chiefly  physical.  The  mind,  the 
most  important  part  of  the  man  —  the  feelings, 
impulses,  and  purposes,  mental  and  moral,  the  in- 
telligence, the  knowing  and  reasoning  faculties, 
and  the  governing  will,  are,  by  the  impressions 
upon  these  organs,  affected  only  secondarily. 
95 


96  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

• 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  action  of  the  nar- 
cotics on  the  Brain  and  Nervous  System,  and  espe- 
cially that  of  alcohol  where  its  most  characteristic 
effects  are  produced. 

This  Nervous  System,  of  which  the  brain  is  the 
chief  or  crowning  part,  but  which  includes  the 
spinal  cord  and  the  nerves,  is  regarded  by  all  phys- 
iologists as  the  central  and  most  important  part  of 
the  organism. 

It  is  the  most  important  part  for  different  reasons. 
It  establishes  connections  and  relations  and  main- 
tains a  harmony  between  the  different  parts  of  the 
body,  and  none  of  its  actions  are  independent  of 
the  brain  and  nerves. 

It  would  require  a  long  time  and  much  study  for 
any  one  to  learn  what  is  well  known  by  anatomists 
and  physiologists  respecting  the  nervous  system,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  theories  and  discoveries  which 
still  lack  demonstration.  The  brain  especially,  but 
also  the  spinal  cord,  has  many  curious  and  delicate 
parts  which  perform  a  great  variety  of  functions. 
There  are  myriads  of  cells  which  originate  actions 
and  receive  impressions,  and  as  many  minute 


THE   NERVOUS    SYSTEM    AND    NARCOTICS.         97 

tubes  which  convey  impressions  and  forces  to  and 
from  the  cells  to  the  different  parts  of  the  body. 
The  details  respecting  the  kinds  of  actions  are  too 
numerous  to  state ;  and  it  must  answer  our  pres- 
ent purpose  to  say,  that  not  only  every  organ  of  the 
body  has  a  nervous  supply,  but  every  minute  part  of 
a  living  tissue,  performing  any  action,  having  any 
power  of  motion  or  capability  of  feeling  —  every  part 
constructing  blood  corpuscles  or  effecting  secre- 
tions—  is  furnished  with  a  little  nerve  fibre  control- 
ling its  action ;  and  any  wrong  state  in  the  cells  of 
the  brain  or  the  fibres  of  the  nerves  causes  wrong 
actions,  more  or  less  marked,  in  the  parts  influ- 
enced by  them. 

But  besides  this,  and  what  is  of  much  more  import- 
ance in  relation  to  our  subject,  the  brain  is  the 
organ  of  the  mind.  Everything  we  call  mind, 
every  feeling,  emotion,  disposition,  impulse  and  de- 
sire ;  all  ideas,  knowledge,  reason  and  thought, 
and  all  purpose,  determination  and  will  —  the 
power  to  feel,  the  power  to  think,  and  the  power  to 
act  —  all  that  pertains  to  our  character  or  conduct, 
shows  itself,  or  is  expressed,  through  and  by  the 


98  TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

brain ;  and  character  and  actions  are  influenced 
and  determined  by  the  conditions  of  the  brain. 
Anything  that  acts  upon  the  brain  and  the  nerves 
—  the  appendages  and  servants  of  the  brain  — 
changing  their  conditions,  changes  the  conditions 
and  actions  not  only  of  the  body  but  of  its  immate- 
rial inhabitant,  the  mind. 

Now,  not  only  the  most  characteristic  but  by  far 
the  most  marked  action  of  alcohol  is  upon  the 
nervous  system  —  upon  the  brain,  the  spinal  cord, 
and  the  nerves. 

The  brain  has  more  attraction  for  alcohol  than 
the  other  organs  of  the  body.  In  case  of  death 
from  direct  alcoholic  poisoning  in  men,  as  some- 
times happens  by  accident,  or  in  animals  as  pro- 
duced by  experiments,  more  of  the  poison  is  found 
in  the  brain  and  liver  than  in  other  parts,  and  there 
is  a  larger  proportion  in  the  brain  than  in  the  liver. 
But  alcohol  has  not  only  a  special  aptitude  to  be 
in  the  brain,  but  to  act  upon  its  soft  and  delicate 
structures,  and  to  change  its  important  functions. 

There  is  a  class  of  agents,  including  alcohol, 
opium,  belladonna,  ether  and  chloroform,  which  are 


THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM    AND   NARCOTICS.         99 

called  narcotics.  Their  effects  are  peculiar,  all 
agreeing  with  each  other  in  many  respects,  but  dif- 
fering in  some  minor  particulars.  Their  action  is 
specially  upon  the  nervous  system,  and  upon  those 
portions  of  it  concerned  in  mental  operations. 
They  are  generally  described  as  first  exciting  and 
then  depressing  nervous  action,  and  as  particularly 
operating  upon  the  intellectual  part  of  the  brain. 

The  excitement  which  these  narcotics  produce  is 
usually  very  brief,  and  is,  often  at  least,  indirect, 
and  may  be  produced  by  the  resistance  of  the  sys- 
tem to  the  intrusion  of  an  unnatural  agent.  The 
cause  of  a  fever,  though  a  depressing  poison,  pro- 
duces an  excitement  of  the  circulation,  and  often 
of  the  operations  of  the  mind,  but  neither  this  or 
the  narcotics  increase  muscular  strength  or  any 
regulated  or  any  useful  form  of  activity ;  and  the 
excitement  produced  by  the  narcotics  is  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  depression  which  is  their  most  decided 
and  characteristic  effect.  Many  of  their  apparently 
exciting  effects  can  be  accounted  for  on  the  sup- 
position that  their  entire  action  is  depressing  or 
paralyzant.  Some  nerves  excite  action  in  the 


100        TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

organs  which  they  supply,  and  others  restrain  ac- 
tion ;  and  the  performance  of  proper  functions 
depends  upon  the  balance  of  these  exciting  and 
restraining  nervous  influences.  Those  that  restrain 
and  thus  regulate  action  are  called  Inhibitory 
nerves,  and  when  those  supplying  an  organ  are  weak- 
ened, paralyzed,  or  destroyed,  certain  actions  of 
that  organ  are  increased,  but  these  actions  become 
irregular,  and  real  permanent  force  is  not  produced. 
Some  apparently  stimulating  effects  are  known 
to  be  caused  by  paralysis  of  the  inhibitory  nerves, 
and  not  by  a  stimulating  effect  upon  the  excitor 
nerves ;  and  this  is  likely  to  be  the  case  in  more 
instances  than  have  yet  been  demonstrated.  But 
whatever  and  however  apparently  increased  action 
is  produced  by  narcotics,  it  is  irregular  and  tran- 
sient, and  is  accompanied  by  unfavorable  activity, 
certainly  when  the  narcotics  are  taken  by  persons 
in  health,  and  such  action  is  followed  by  the  charac- 
teristic depression. 

Among  the  most  marked  effects  of  opium  is  the 
production  of  sleep,  of  belladonna  the  production 
of  delirium,  of  chloroform  and  ether  the  production 


THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM    AND    NARCOTICS.       IOI 

of  insensibility;  but  the  two  latter  articles,  when 
not  carried  to  the  extent  of  causing  insensibility, 
temporarily  produce  the  state  called  inebriation  or 
drunkenness.  The  effect  of  alcohol  is  similar  to 
tkese,  but  more  lasting,  and  when  carried  to  a  suffi- 
cient extent  it  likewise  produces  insensibility.  All 
these  narcotics  when  given  in  sufficient  doses 
cause  death  by  paralyzing  necessary  life  functions. 

But  these  narcotics,  even  when  not  carried  to  the 
extent  of  entire  insensibility,  by  their  paralyzing 
effects  on  the  brain  and  nerves  relieve  pain  when 
present,  opium  most  of  all,  and  all  modify  the  feel- 
ings so  as  often  to  produce  agreeable  sensations 
and  emotions,  and  all  disturb  in  one  way  or  another 
the  natural  operations  of  the  mind. 

Another  quality  all  the  narcotics  possess,  but 
some  more  than  others,  and  that  is,  when  taken 
repeatedly  they  create  a  desire  for  the  continuance 
of  these  repetitions,  and  tend  strongly  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  habit,  which  it  is  difficult,  and  in  some 
cases  apparently  impossible,  to  resist. 

It  is  not  possible  fully  and  scientifically  to  ex- 
plain the  force  of  the  narcotic  habits.  They  are 


IO2  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

allied  to  each  other,  and  to  a  certain  extent  one 
may  take  the  place  of  the  other  —  at  least  the  for- 
mation of  one  of  these  habits  tends  to  the  production 
of  others.  They  are  much  more  readily  acquired 
by  some  than  by  others.  The  children  of  parents 
who  have  acquired  such  habits,  from  an  inherited  im- 
pulse are  much  more  liable  to  form  them ;  and  the 
use  of  some  of  the  narcotic  articles  has  a  stronger 
tendency  to  become  tyrannously  habitual  than  that 
of  others. 

The  opium  habit,  though  readily  formed,  is,  per- 
haps, more  difficult  to  break  than  any  of  the  rest, 
but  it  will  serve,  in  some  respects,  to  illustrate  them 
all.  A  dose  of  opium  produces  with  many  persons 
agreeable  sensations,  bodily  and  mental.  It  quiets 
restlessness,  soothes  irritation,  and  sometimes  pro- 
duces a  temporary  elevation  of  thought  and  a 
dreamy  pleasure.  This  leads  to  a  desire  to  again 
excite  such  agreeable  feelings.  But  the  after  effects 
of  the  doses  are  unpleasant.  Depression,  uneasi- 
ness, and  often  pains  are  felt.  These  are  readily 
mitigated  or  removed  by  repeating  the  dose,  and 
the  agreeable  feelings  take  their  place.  This  state 


THE    NERVOUS    SYSTEM    AND    NARCOTICS.       103 

of  things  naturally  leads  to  repetitions,  until  the 
indulgence  becomes  habitual,  and  larger  and  still 
larger  quantities  are  required  to  relieve  these 
secondary  sufferings  and  to  cause  the  agreeable 
sensations. 

But  besides  and  beyond  this,  there  is  a  force  in 
narcotic  habits  not  fully  understood.  Repeated 
indulgence  in  any  of  these  articles  which  make  a 
strong  impression  on  the  nervous  system,  whether 
that  impression  at  first  be  disgusting  and  distress- 
ing, as  in  the  case  of  tobacco,  or  more  immedi- 
ately agreeable,  as  in  the  case  of  opium  and  alco- 
holic drinks,  produces  a  fascination  and  an  en- 
thrallment  that  those  alone  who  feel  their  force  can 
appreciate.  A  changed  condition  is  induced  with 
unnatural  wants  and  propensities,  which  call  for 
and  insist  upon  gratification,  however  disastrous 
the  results.  But  whether  explained  or  not,  these 
facts  are  too  familiar  to  be  questioned  and  too  im- 
portant to  be  ignored. 

Alcohol  is  a  powerful  narcotic  and  has  all  the 
essential  properties  of  the  class ;  and  though  so 
small  a  quantity  of  any  of  them  may  be  taken,  or 


104        TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

they  may  be  so  seldom  indulged  in,  that  their  more 
disastrous  consequences  are  resisted,  yet  there  is 
always  danger  in  their  indulgence, and  injury  more 
or  less  is  produced  and  in  proportion  to  the  extent 
of  their  use. 

Though  alcohol  has  many  properties  in  common 
with  the  class  to  which  it  belongs  —  has  a  similar- 
ity of  action  on  the  nervous  system  with  the  others 
—  yet  it  has  qualities  peculiar  to  itself,  and  its 
more  particular  actions  on  this  system  are  next  to 
be  described, 


CHAPTER   X. 

ACTION    OF   ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN,    SPINAL 
CORD   AND    NERVES. 

IN  the  last  chapter  some  of  the  effects  of  the 
Narcotics,  as  a  class,  on  the  nervous  system 
were  pointed  out,  and  their  liability  to  produce  nar- 
cotic habits  was  dwelt  upon. 

Nothing  relating  to  our  existence  is  more  inter- 
esting in  Science,  or  more  important  to  our  well- 
being,  than  the  formation  of  habits.  Men  are 
sometimes  said  to  consist  of  bundles  of  habits,  and 
certainly  our  habits  largely  determine  our  charac- 
ters, our  usefulness,  and  our  happiness.  They  not 
only  make  us  what  we  are,  but  what  we  shall  be. 

Habit  is  defined  as  a  quality  given  to  our  organism 
by  use.  The  primary  law  of  habit  is,  that  all  vital 
actions  tend  to  repeat  themselves,  or  to  become 
easier  of  performance,  and  more  likely  to  be  per- 
formed the  more  they  are  repeated.  Every  act, 


1 56        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

physical  or  mental,  performed  or  suffered,  leaves 
an  impression  upon  the  organ  performing  it,  ren- 
dering the  organ  more  able  and  more  inclined  to 
perform  it  again.  There  are  exceptions  to  this 
broad  statement,  but  it  is  strictly  true  in  reference 
to  the  formation  of  habits.  As  we  have  seen,  many 
strong  impressions  upon  the  nervous  system  create 
an  intense  desire  for  their  repetition,  and  acts  in 
general  tend  to  be  habitual.  Addison,  the  essayist, 
long  since  said,  "  Do  that  which  is  best,  and  habit 
will  render  it  most  agreeable  ;  "  and  when  we  do 
what  is  worst,  habit  renders  it,  if  not  most  agreea- 
ble, at  least  more  easy  and  more  likely  to  be 
continued.  The  habitual  acts  of  young  people  es- 
tablish in  them  dispositions  and  characteristics 
which  are  seldom  materially  changed,  and  almost 
never  completely  eradicated;  and  the  qualities 
thus  acquired  become  so  fixed  and  constitutional 
as  to  be  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation. 
It  is  by  this  law  of  transmission  that  the  sins,  or  evil 
qualities,  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children ; 
and  by  the  same  law  blessings  come  to  thousands 
who  on  the  part  of  their  ancestors  and  themselves 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOL    UPON   THE   BRAIN.       107 

keep  the  commandments  —  obey  the  physical  and 
moral  laws.  A  wicked  disposition,  acquired  by 
wicked  habits,  desires  wickedness ;  and  a  narco- 
tized brain  desires  narcotism,  and  is  followed  in 
after  generations  by  brains  more  inclined  to  acquire 
the  narcotized  state. 

These  facts  of  habits  and  their  hereditary  trans- 
mission are  so  important  as  to  justify  their  repeated 
statement  in  a  series  of  articles  intended  to  convey 
scientific  truths  which  have  a  bearing  upon  the 
deepest  interests  of  all  for  whom  they  are  designed. 

But  what  are  the  effects,  immediate  and  remote, 
which  alcohol,  in  the  different  degrees  and  modes 
of  its  use,  has  upon  the  Brain  and  Nervous  Sys- 
tem, and  through  these  organs  upon  character  and 
destiny? 

In  answering  this  question  it  will  be  well  to  con- 
sider, first,  the  more  immediate  effects  of  a  single 
or  a  few  doses,  and  then  the  effects  of  its  continued 
use  in  different  quantities.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  discussing  the  strictly  medic- 
inal effects  of  alcoholics  in  special  diseases,  or  in 
the  shock  of  accidents.  These  are  questions  which 


IO8        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

belong  to  the  medical  profession,  and  respecting 
which  those  without  the  profession  are  not  supposed 
to  have  definite  opinions,  at  any  rate,  not  more 
than  they  should  have  about  arsenic,  strychnine, 
or  other  powerful  medicinal  agents.  We  are  con- 
sidering the  essential  action  of  alcoholic  drinks  on 
the  system  without  reference  to  their  modifying 
influence  upon  diseases ;  though  the  opinions  en- 
tertained respecting  their  essential  or  what  is  called 
their  physiological  action,  should  largely  govern 
their  omission  or  use  in  diseases. 

The  first  impression  alcohol  makes  upon  the 
brain,  after  being  taken  into  the  stomach,  is  that 
conveyed  from  the  latter  organ  by  nervous  sympa- 
thy, or  by  that  peculiar  relation  between  different 
parts  of  the  body  established  by  the  everywhere 
prevailing  nerves,  by  means  of  which  an  impression 
upon  one  part  produces  an  impression  of  some 
kind  on  other  parts.  The  sympathy  between  the 
stomach  and  brain  is  very  intimate,  as  is  well  known 
generally,  and  is  especially  understood  by  those 
who  are  dyspeptic. 

This  first  impression  of  alcohol  upon  the  brain 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.      1 09 

by  sympathy  with  the  stomach,  is  very  speedily 
produced,  and  is  comparatively  short ;  or  if  con- 
tinued longer,  it  is  obscured  by  the  stronger  and 
more  enduring  effect  produced  by  its  being  ab- 
sorbed and  carried  by  the  blood  to  this  organ. 

This  first  sympathetic  impression,  when  only  a 
fairly  moderate  quantity  of  the  alcohol  is  taken,  is  to 
a  certain  extent,  and  in  a  certain  way,  often  exhil- 
arating. In  depressed  conditions  it  often  arouses 
the  system,  and  it  relieves  fainting  almost  as  speed- 
ily as  dashing  water  upon  the  face  ;  indeed  it  acts 
upon  a  similar  principle,  though  rather  more  perma- 
nently. It  is  this  sympathetic,  transient,  apparently 
exhilarating  effect  that  gives  the  idea,  which  is  so 
common,  that  alcohol  is  a  stimulant ;  though  it  is 
not  so  in  its  direct  effect  by  its  presence  in  an 
organ,  as  was  shown  in  the  experiments  upon  the 
heart,  an  account  of  which  has  already  been  given. 

But  very  soon  after  being  taken  into  the  stomach 
the  alcohol  begins  to  be  absorbed  and  carried  to 
other  organs,  and  it  speedily  reaches  the  brain. 
Free  portions  of  it  are  retained  there,  and  produce 
other  effects  to  be  described. 


110        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

Though  alcohol  is  a  narcotic  producing  a  more 
ordinary  effect,  like  other  narcotics,  by  its  peculiar 
relations  to  the  vital  properties  of  the  brain,  yet 
unlike  most  of  them  it  has  chemical  or  mechanical 
effects  upon  the  brain's  structure.  From  the  pecu- 
liar composition  of  this  organ,  and  perhaps  from 
its  containing  more  moisture  than  other  organs,  a 
larger  quantity  of  alcohol,  after  its  imbibition,  is 
found  in  its  substance  than  in  other  tissues  of  the 
body.  By  its  great  affinity  for  water,  it  takes  from 
the  soft,  delicate  and  moist  tissue  a  portion  of  its 
moisture  ;  and  when  the  alcohol  is  free  in  quantity, 
it  takes  the  water  to  such  an  extent  as  sometimes 
to  coagulate  the  jelly-like  matter  ;  but  ordinarily  it 
produces  a  slighter  physical  change  in  the  brain's 
structure,  but  which  nevertheless  interferes  with 
those  minute  motions  which  take  place  in  the  per- 
formance of  proper  functions. 

The  long-continued  use  of  quantities  not  imme- 
diately so  disastrous,  produces  various  structural 
changes,  which  are  often  markedly  perceptible ; 
and  in  chronic  alcoholic  disease,  hardening  of  the 
brain  structure,  increase  of  the  connective  tissue, 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.      Ill 

with  diminution  of  the  proper  brain  cells,  thicken- 
ing of  the  membranes,  and  effusions  of  serous  fluid 
into  the  ventricles  or  cavities,  are  among  the  appear- 
ances often  found.  All  these  changes  are  usually 
accompanied  with  more  or  less  inflammatory  and 
other  degenerative  processes,  with  a  lowering  and 
perversion  of  function,  and  with  premature  decay  of 
all  mental  and  physical  powers. 

But  the  more  common  and  therefore  more  im- 
portant effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  brain,  usually 
produced  by  smaller  quantities  than  cause  the  gross 
chemical  and  mechanical  effects  just  referred  to, 
are  produced  by  its  narcotic  or  vital,  rather  than  its 
chemical  or  physical  properties.  Other  narcotics, 
such  as  morphine,  atropine,  nicotine,  prussic  acid, 
produce  their  effects  independently  of  any  recog- 
nized chemical  or  physical  action,  and  alcohol  pro- 
duces its  more  ordinary  effects  by  properties  which 
do  not  produce  these  gross  changes.  The  special 
cause  of  such  effects  —  the  particular  change  pro- 
duced in  the  brain  and  nerves,  is  not  in  all  cases 
known.  But  the  fact  is  known  that  changes  in  the 
vital  conditions  and  actions  of  these  important 


112        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

organ  do  occur ;  and  when'  enough  of  the  poison 
is  taken,  all  action  is  arrested  and  death  is  pro- 
duced, although  no  gross  changes  of  composition 
and  structure  are  discovered.  Without  further 
attempts  to  explain  the  cause  of  the  peculiar  action 
of  alcohol  on  the  brain  and  nerves,  I  shall  endeavor 
to  describe  the  leading  phenomena  which  we  see 
that  it  produces. 

Alcohol,  chloroform,  arsenic,  opium,  or  any  other 
narcotic  or  poisonous  substance,  may  be  taken  in 
such  minute  quantities  as  to  produce  very  little  or 
no  perceptible  effect.  A  single  whiff  of  chloroform 
may  make  an  impression  upon  the  sense  of  smell 
without  any  further  effects  being  noticeable.  So  a 
single  sip  of  wine,  or  a  small  quantity  of  brandy, 
as  used  in  cooking,  may  impart  a  flavor,  and  possi- 
bly cultivate  a  taste,  but  without  producing  any 
other  observed  change  in  the  organism. 

When,  however,  sufficient  of  any  of  the  alcoholic 
liquids  is  taken  to  produce  appreciable  or  more 
marked  effects  upon  the  brain  and  nerves,  four 
stages  of  effects  may  be  observed.  These  stages 
shade  off  into  each  other,  and  are  determined  by 


ACTION  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE  BRAIN.   113 

the  quantity  taken  and  the  susceptibility  and  other 
conditions  of  the  person. 

When  a  moderate  quantity,  as  a  glass  or  two  of 
wine,  or  of  spirits  and  water,  is  taken  by  one  not 
much  accustomed  to  the  use  of  these  articles  a 
flush  of  nervous  action  is  immediately  experienced, 
and,  as  already  stated,  is  chiefly  from  an  impression 
conveyed  from  the  stomach.  There  is  usually  an 
increased  disposition  to  motion  or  to  some  form  of 
action,  a  greater  sensibility  to  some  impressions 
and  a  more  ready  response  to  them.  There  is 
often,  perhaps  generally,  a  more  rapid  flow  of  ideas, 
and  more  agreeable  feelings  are  commonly  expe- 
rienced ;  and  if  there  be  a  sense  of  fatigue,  it  is 
apt  to  be  relieved.  A  feeling  of  coldness,  if  exist- 
ing, is  abated ;  and  by  an  impression  made  upon 
the  nerves  controlling  the  vessels  of  the  surface 
they  become  expanded,  more  blood  is  brought  to 
the  skin,  especially  of  the  face,  and  increased  ex- 
ternal warmth  is  often  perceived. 

The  heart,  by  the  same  nervous  impression,  is 
generally  increased  in  the  frequency  of  its  beat,  and 
possibly  for  a  very  short  time  in  its  force,  especially 


114        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

if  the  person  is  fatigued,  or  depressed  from  any 
temporary  morbid  influence;  but  when  the  alcohol 
reaches  the  heart  through  the  blood  and  is  thus 
applied  to  its  substance,  the  force  of  that  organ  is 
diminished,  as  was  shown  from  the  experiments 
recorded  in  a  previous  chapter.  This  is  the  first 
mild  stage  of  alcoholic  action  upon  a  person  in 
a  state  of  comparative  health,  and  all  these  effects 
soon  pass  away  where  so  small  a  quantity  is  taken, 
leaving  only  a  slight  feeling  of  languor  behind. 

In  the  second  stage  vfi\z\\  more  has  been  taken,  or 
when  that  taken  has  had  its  more  full  effect,  the 
alcohol  having  accumulated  in  the  brain,  the  flush 
of  the  face  may  continue,  or  become  purplish,  or 
in  rarer  cases  it  may  fade  ;  the  temperature  of  the 
surface  may  continue,  or  it  may  be  less,  but  that  of 
the  internal  parts  of  the  body,  as  a  rule,  is  dimin- 
\shed ;  there  is  now  a  degree  of  mental  confusion, 
with  less  precision  of  muscular  motion,  though 
there  may  be  increase  of  the  flow  of  ideas  and  of 
words  from  weakening  or  partial  paralysis  of  the 
regulating  and  restraining  functions  ;  and  for  the 
same  reason  there  is  a  more  ready  excitement  of 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.       115 

the  feelings  of  mirth  or  anger,  of  affection  or 
hatred,  and  a  more  ready  and  unrestrained  expres- 
sion of  such  feelings.  Indiscreet  confidence,  silly 
sentiment,  extravagance  and  boasting,  are  apt  to 
be  indulged.  There  is  now,  in  different  degrees, 
the  condition  of  u  tipsiness."  The  man  regards 
himself  as  stronger,  wittier,  and  wiser  than  he  is. 
The  cares  and  responsibilities  of  life  rest  less 
heavily  upon  him,  and  in  this  condition  he  is  less 
careful  of  proprieties  and  of  obligations.  With 
many  the  sensations  are  now  more  agreeable  and 
a  sensuous  hilarity  is  experienced.  This  release 
from  care  and  these  agreeable  sensations  have 
given  rise  to  many  a  eulogy  in  song  upon  the 
"  pleasures  of  the  wine  cup/7  and  have  inspired  the 
worship  of  Bacchus.  It  is  claimed  that  the  feelings 
of  friendship  are  more  ardent  when  pledges  are 
made  in  wine ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
feelings  of  hatred  are  as  apt  to  be  excited  as  those 
of  love,  as  is  attested  by  the  quarrels  in  the  cups ; 
and  in  lower  natures  impurity  and  rights  are  apt 
to  result.  In  these  lower  natures,  recklessness  and 
criminality  in  this  state  are  common. 


Il6        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF   SCIENCE. 

But  if  indulgence  was  never  carried  beyond  this 
point,  was  only  occasional,  and  was  practised  only 
by  men  of  well-regulated  minds  and  characters, 
the  immediate  individual  results  would  not  be  so 
disastrous,  though  often  when  the  drinking  is 
indulged  only  to  this  extent,  the  effects  are  mark- 
edly injurious  upon  the  health  of  both  the  body 
and  the  mind ;  and  constantly  the  short  pleasure 
is  followed  by  a  much  longer  period  of  depression, 
and  the  sum  of  happiness  is  diminished  rather  than 
increased  by  ever  so  judicious  an  indulgence. 

The  great  objection,  however,  to  such  indulgence 
is,  that  a  taste  is  developed  and  a  habit  formed 
which  in  so  many  instances  carry  the  victim  far 
beyond  these  limits,  producing  results  which  are 
to  be  described  as  we  proceed  —  results  not  con- 
fined to  the  individual,  but  extending  to  his 
associates,  to  his  family,  to  society,  and  to  his  off- 
spring to  after  generations.  If  the  pleasure  of  this 
moderate  indulgence  were  much  greater,  it  could 
not  compensate  for  the  danger  to  the  individual, 
and  the  injury  of  the  example  to  others  which  such 
a  drinking  custom  would  inflict. 


CHAPTER  XL 

ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN   AND    NER- 
VOUS SYSTEM  (continued). 

IN  Jhe  preceding  chapter,  the  milder  acute 
or  immediate  stages  of  alcoholic  action 
were  briefly  described.  In  these  milder  stages, 
amounting  in  the  highest  degree  only  to  what  is 
called  "  tipsiness,"  as  well  as  in  the  more  pro- 
nounced stages  of  intoxication,  the  peculiar  action 
of  alcohol  on  the  brain  induces^//;^of  strength, 
of  self-importance,  and  of  well-being,  which  are 
entirely  deceptive.  This  is  demonstrable  with  the 
muscular  power.  The  tipsy  man  boasts  of  his 
strength  and  is  ready  to  use  it  in  contests,  but  he 
is  more  readily  defeated  than  in  his  natural  state  ; 
and  in  lifting  at  weights,  where  there  are  accurate 
tests,  it  is  found  that  every  degree  of  alcoholic  ac- 
tion upon  a  healthy  system  diminishes  muscular 

power. 

117 


Il8        TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

But  the  more  advanced,  or  third  stage,  presents 
more  striking  phenomena.  In  this  stage  the  man 
is  regarded  as  intoxicated,  or  drunk.  The  face  may 
now  be  purplish,  or  pallid,  the  temperature  is  re- 
duced, the  motions  of  the  heart  are  usually  dimin- 
ished, often  in  frequency,  but  more  constantly  in 
force  ;  vascular  tension,  or  the  pressure  of  blood 
in  the  arteries,  is  less  ;  there  is  marked  failure  of 
muscular  direction  or  control,  and  of  muscular 
power  ;  the  gait  is  unsteady,  the  tongue  is  thick, 
the  lips  and  limbs  are  more  or  less  paralyzed,  there 
is  sometimes  double  vision ;  and  now  there  is 
more  marked  obscurity  and  confusion  of  intellect, 
and  more  change  of  mental  feeling.  There  is  gen- 
erally either  an  increase  of  irritability  of  temper, 
or  a  development  of  foolish  sentimentality,  with 
still  greater  recklessness  of  conduct,  a  loss  of  a  sense 
of  propriety,  and  often  a  disregard  of  the  rights  of 
others  ;  and  now  pugnacity,  brutality,  violence  and 
criminality  are  apt  to  appear. 

When  not  too  advanced,  this  is  the  stage  of 
brawls  and  fights,  of  shooting  and  stabbing  in 
saloons  and  in  the  streets,  of  beating  of  wife  and 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.       HQ 

children  at  home,  of  profanity  and  obscenity  every- 
where, and  of  all  the  horrors  so  familiar  to  the 
frequenters  at  public  places,  the  visitors  at  the 
homes  of  drunkards,  and  the  readers  of  the  daily 
papers.  This  stage  may  terminate  in  an  unnatu- 
ral sleep,  with  restless  mutterings,  semi-convul- 
sions, or  more  quiet  narcotism. 

In  the  fourth  stage,  or  that  of  dead  drunkenness, 
there  is  the  full  development  of  alcoholic  narcotism. 
The  anaesthetic  phenomena,  or  those  of  insensibil- 
ity, such  as  appear  under  the  influence  of  chloro- 
form or  ether,  are  present.  There  are  muscular 
palsies,  irregular  and  stertorous  breathing ;  feeble, 
often  intermitting,  heart  action,  great  fall  of  tem- 
perature, with  utter  insensibility  and  unconscious- 
ness ;  and  the  next  step  is  death.  Death  is  more 
likely  to  occur  when  the  same  degree  of  narcotism 
is  produced  from  alcohol  than  from  chloroform  or 
ether,  because  of  its  longer  continuance.  The  alco- 
hol necessery  for  these  effects  is  larger  in  amount 
and  slower  in  leaving  the  system  than  the  chloro- 
form or  ether.  The  awakening  from  the  oblivious- 
ness  of  the  more  advanced  degrees  of  drunkenness, 


120        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

whatever  may  be  the  sensations  and  visions  in  falling 
into  it,  is  a  painful  reality.  Confusion,  depression, 
and  distress ;  and,  before  the  drunkenness  becomes 
habitual,  remorse  and  shame  are  keenly  felt  in  all 
but  the  lowest  natures.  For  hours,  and  often  for 
days  after,  there  is  pain  in  the  head,  often  sickness 
of  the  stomach,  the  tongue  is  coated,  the  hands 
tremble,  there  is  frequently  feverishness ;  and  lan- 
guor and  inefficiency  continue  for  a  longer  time. 

With  some,  in  these  fits  of  intoxication,  violent 
and  repeated  convulsions  occur ;  and  with  some 
others  there  is  active  delirium  —  crazy  drunkenness 
—  but  such  cases  are  not  common.  It  is  a  curious 
and  most  unfortunate  fact,  that  however  painful 
these  results,  however  strong  the  motive  and  firm 
the  resolve  not  to  repeat  the  debauch,  there  is  in 
many  cases  an  imperative  impulse  to  indulge  again 
in  the  same  manner,  especially  if  any,  even  the 
least,  intoxicant  is  taken  ;  and  in  spite  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  consequences  and  the  remonstrance  and 
persuasion  of  family  and  friends,  the  terrible 
practice  becomes  habitual. 

The  strong  resemblance  between  the  narcosis  of 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.       121 

alcohol  and  that  of  chloroform  or  ether  is  apparent  ; 
but  that  of  alcohol  is  much  more  likely  to  become 
habitual.  The  essential  character  of  the  condi- 
tions is  so  similar  that  the  same  terms  may  be  ap- 
plied to  each.  If  chloroform  is  a  narcotic,  so  is 
alcohol ;  if  one  is  a  depressing,  lethal  agent,  so  is 
the  other.  If  chloroform  is  a  poison,  so  is  alco- 
hol. The  greatest  difference  in  their  immedi- 
ate action  is,  that  the  chloroform  is  more  speedy 
in  its  effects  and  sooner  over ;  and  its  secondary 
consequences  are  less  severe. 

But  in  studying  the  effects  of  alcohol  on  the 
brain  and  nervous  system,  we  must  go  beyond  the 
speedy  action  of  a  single  or  a  few  doses,  and  con- 
sider the  more  important,  because  the  more  perma- 
nent, effects  of  its  continued  use.  These  effects 
are  varied  by  the  quantity  used,  the  length  of  time 
it  is  continued,  and  by  the  temperament  and 
power  of  endurance  of  the  drinker. 

In  its  habitual  use,  four  stages  of  alcoholic 
change  are  recognized,  corresponding  in  many 
respects  with  the  four  acute  stages  that  have  been 
described. 


122  TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

There  is  a  mild  first  stage  where  only  small 
quantities  are  used,  as  where  an  occasional  glass 
of  light  wine  or  beer  is  taken  with  the  meals,  and 
where  such  limits  are  not  exceeded.  In  this  the 
condition  of  the  brain  and  nerves  is  but  little 
changed  from  the  physiological  or  natural  state. 

There  is  a  second  stage  where  a  change  from  the 
normal  state  is  more  perceptible  —  where  the 
force  and  regularity  of  brain  and  nerve  action  is 
impaired,  but  not  in  an  extreme  degree  ;  but  where 
the  tone  of  the  intellectual  and  particularly  of  the 
moral  character  is  lowered,  but  yet  where  the 
subject  of  it  is  not  regarded  as  a  drunkard. 

There  is  a  third  stage  where  there  is  unques- 
tionable intemperance  or  inebriety — where  the 
subject  is  called  a  "  hard  drinker  "  or  "  drunkard  " 
according  to  the  degree  of  indulgence ;  and  there 
is  still  a  more  advanced  or  fourth  stage,  where  the 
victim  is  a  complete  sot,  given  up  to  continued 
and  extreme  indulgence,  whenever  the  means  are 
within  his  reach,  where  there  is  the  greatest  de 
basement,  physical,  mental,  and  moral,  where  there 
is  advanced  alcoholism  or  alcoholic  disease,  where 


ACTION    OF   ALCOHOL   UPON    THE    BRAIN.      123 

the  wretched  victim  is  tottering  on  the  verge  of 
destruction,  unfit  for  any  useful  occupation  or  re- 
spectable association,  a  disgrace  to  himself  and 
friends,  and  a  nuisance  to  all  about  him.  These 
stages  shade  off  into  each  other  with  no  abrupt 
line  of  demarkation,  but  are  different  degrees  of 
the  one  general  process  of  abnormal  change. 
The  first  two  milder  stages  will  require  more  dis- 
cussion, as  respecting  them  there  are  the  chief 
differences  of  opinion  ;  but  this  discussion  will  not 
be  entered  upon  until  a  fuller  account  has  been 
given  of  the  more  advanced  stages. 

All  are  ready  to  admit  the  very  great,  the  almost 
inexpressible,  evils  to  the  brain  and  nerves  of  in- 
dividuals, to  the  happiness  of  families,  to  the  in- 
terests of  communities  and  the  country,  of  the  third 
and  fourth  stages  of  habitual  alcoholic  indulgence. 
The  changes  of  the  brain  usually  discoverable  in 
its  structure,  but  which  more  certainly  exist  in  its 
functions  —  in  its  actions  and  tendencies — are 
most  profound;  and  are  all  in  the  direction  of 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  degradation. 

The  structure  of  the  brain  is  changed  in  various 


124        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

ways  from  its  normal  state.  It  is  sometimes  hard- 
ened from  the  increase  of  its  connective  tissue, 
and  sometimes  softened  from  a  form  of  fatty 
change ;  and  in  both  cases  the  proper  brain  cells 
—  the  seat  of  cerebral  action,  of  physical  and 
mental  power  —  are  more  or  less  diminished  in 
number,  altered  in  structure,  and  impaired  in  ac- 
tivity. The  vessels  are  often  found  degenerated, 
and  are  liable  to  great  distention  and  rupture, 
constituting  congestion  and  apoplexy.  The  mem- 
branes of  the  brain  are  often  found  inflamed  and 
thickened,  their  transparency  and  pliability  im- 
paired ;  and,  in  short,  the  whole  organ  is  degene- 
rated, enfeebled  and  perverted. 

Under  the  immediate  effect  of  the  liquor,  the 
drunkard  is  regardless  of  his  duties  and  obligations 
to  himself,  his  family,  and  to  society.  He  is  in- 
efficient, improvident,  unthrifty,  unreliable;  often 
violent,  dangerous,  and  criminal.  When  deprived 
of  his  accustomed  dram,  he  is  morose,  despondent, 
and  often  unendurably  wretched,  with  a  craving 
for  the  liquor,  which  in  the  perverted  state  of  his 
brain  is  irresistible.  His  depression  and  despair 


ACTION  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  THE  BRAIN.   125 

sometimes  lead  to  suicide,  preceded,  it  may  be,  by 
the  murder  of  his  family,  with  the  motive  of  reliev- 
ing himself  and  them  from  their  living  death.  Min- 
gled with  this  despair  are  often  fits  of  fury  which 
the  drink  excites ;  and  his  causeless  and  unreason- 
ing vengeance  maybe  inflicted  indiscriminately  on 
himself,  his  family,  his  friends,  or  strangers,  as 
well  as  on  imagined  or  real  foes.  In  many  cases 
nothing  is  too  absurd  or  too  depraved  for  him  to 
do,  and  no  suffering  is  too  severe  for  him  to  en- 
dure. 

The  drink  which  for  a  time  relieved  his  agony, 
at  length  fails  to  do  so  unless  carried  to  the  extent 
of  stupefaction  and  approaching  unconsciousness. 
This  quantity  is  therefore  taken,  and  this  increas- 
ing indulgence,  if  it  does  not  induce  sooner  some 
fatal  form  of  disease,  brings  him  to  the  fourth  and 
extreme  stage  of  habitual  drunkenness,  which 
usually  soon  results  in  death. 

Besides  rendering  other  diseases  and  accidents 
much  more  severe  and  fatal,  this  excessive  drink- 
ing produces  several  particular  diseases  of  the  brain 
and  nervous  system. 


126        TEMPERANCE    TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

The  one  best  known  to  persons  not  of  the  medi- 
cal profession,  because  of  the  striking  character 
of  the  symptoms,  is  Delirium  Tremens.  In  this 
terrible  disease  the  brain  becomes  so  affected  by 
the  alcoholic  poison  that  all  its  functions,  physical 
and  mental,  are  performed  in  the  most  irregular 
and  fearfully  perverted  manner.  There  is  usually 
a  premonitory  stage  in  which  the  patient  is  restless, 
wakeful,  .and  apprehensive  of  some  violence,  mis- 
fortune, or  calamity.  When  attempting  to  sleep 
he  is  awakened  with  frightful  dreams  which  are  so 
vivid  as  to  appear  to  be  realities  for  a  time  after 
awaking.  These  and  other  symptoms  may  cause 
the  patient  to  stop  his  drink,  but  too  late  to  pre- 
vent its  effects.  In  other  cases,  quite  as  numerous, 
the  premonitory  symptoms  are  less  regarded,  and . 
the  full  development  of  the  disease  comes  on  in 
the  midst  of  gross  indulgence  in  drink ;  but  the 
phenomena  in  either  case  are  similar.  The  face 
now  becomes  paler,  the  surface  is  covered  with  a 
profuse  sweat,  there  is  trembling  in  every  muscle, 
the  patient  looks  wildly  about  him,  seeing  in  his 
delusions  frightful  objects  in  every  quarter ;  and 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.       127 

though  his  pulse  is  weak  and  fluttering  and  his 
whole  appearance  indicates  great  debility,  he  still 
moves  about  restlessly,  and  often  actively,  md  he 
frequently  exerts  himself  violently  to  escape  from 
imaginary  enemies.  His  whole  mental  functions 
are  perverted  even  more  than  his  bodily  ones. 
The  most  characteristic  mental  condition  is  fear, 
which  is  always  present.  His  ever-present  halluci- 
nations, or  morbid  imaginings  of  sight,  sound,  and 
feeling  are  of  a  frightful  character.  He  thinks  he 
is  pursued  by  "  a  man  with  a  hot  poker,"  that 
"  snakes  are  in  his  boots,"  that  disgusting  bugs  are 
crawling  over  him,  that  great  bats  are  flapping 
their  skinny  wings  in  his  face,  that  vampires  are 
sucking  his  blood,  or  that  demons  are  about  to 
seize  him  ;  and  he  cries  out  and  struggles  in  mortal 
agony.  He  may  make  a  fatal  leap  from  a  high 
window,  or,  escaping  from  his  room,  may  run  half- 
naked  through  the  streets.  No  condition  of  men- 
tal suffering  can  exceed  this  state.  The  ancient 
ideas  of  Gorgons  and  Furies  must  have  been  de- 
rived from  this  disease,  which  occasionally  oc- 
curred among  the  wine-bibbers  of  the  time. 


128        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS    OF    SCIENCE. 

In  this  disease,  left  to  itself,  sleep  and  rest  are 
banished,  and  death  by  exhaustion  is  likely  to  oc- 
cur in  from  a  few  days  to  a  week.  Many  cases, 
however,  under  proper  management  recover  from 
&  first,  and  some  from  a  second  or  third  attack.  It 
would  seem  from  such  a  warning  that  the  first  at- 
tack would  be  the  last  —  that  the  cause  would  be 
avoided.  But  the  desire  to  return  to  drinking  is 
so  great,  the  force  of  habit  so  strong,  the  self-con- 
trol through  brain  impairment  so  feeble,  that  indul- 
gence again  occurs,  arid  subsequent  attacks  gener- 
ally follow.  With  each  recurrence  of  the  disease 
the  chances  of  recovery  diminish,  until  death  closes 
the  earthly  scene.  Subsequent  attacks  of  this  par- 
ticular disease  may  not  occur,  death  following  from 
other  forms  of  alcoholism,  or  from  complications 
of  other  diseases ;  but  when  the  brain  is  so  far  im- 
paired as  to  produce  delirium  tremens,  permanent 
reform  is  almost  hopeless,  and  the  victim  is  almost 
sure  to  die  a  drunkard. 

Death  to  our  natural  instincts  is  a  fearful  thing, 
come  in  what  form  it  may ;  fearful  when  amid 
friends,  and  family,  and  loving  care  ;  made  less 


ACTION    OF    ALCOHOL    UPON    THE    BRAIN.      129 

appalling  by  affection  earned  by  years  of  self-con- 
trol, of  duty  done,  of  virtue,  kindness  and  love.  It 
is  a  terror  even  when  life  passes  away  with  these 
surroundings,  in  resignation  and  hope,  and  ceases 
as  gently  as  music  from  a  slumbering  harp-string. 
What  then  must  be  this  dread  event  to  him,  who 
drives  from  his  death  chamber,  dr  perhaps  his 
gloomy  cell,  by  his  raving  violence  or  his  profane 
mutterings,  his  family  and  kin,  who  may  have  but 
the  tattered  remnants  of  abused  affection,  while  he 
puffs  out  his  last  foul  breath,  a  token  of  the  cor- 
ruption within,  and  nothing  remains  but  an  inheri- 
tance of  painful  memories,  and,  possibly,  of  pro- 
pensities which  may  lead  his  offspring  to  repeat 
his  career. 

Can  it  be  possible  that  an  article  which  so  often 
produces  the  effects  upon  the  brain  and  nervous 
system  which  have  been  sketched  in  mere  outline, 
is,  as  a  beverage,  ever  necessary,  useful  or  safe ; 
or  indeed  entirely  innocent,  habitually  used  in 
sftiy  quantity  however  moderate  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FURTHER   INFLUENCE   OF   ALCOHOLICS. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  some  of  the  effects  of  the 
habitual,  excessive  use  of  alcoholics  were  men- 
tioned, especially  delirium  tremens. 

Insanity  is  another  morbid  condition  of  the  brain 
caused  by  chronic  alcoholic  indulgence.  The  sta- 
tistics of  all  insane  asylums  bear  evidence  of  this 
fact.  In  the  list  of  causes  of  this  most  terrible 
of  calamities,  intemperance  occupies  a  prominent 
place  ;  but  those  who  have  given  most  attention  to 
the  subject  express  the  opinion  that  this  disease  is 
more  likely  to  attack  the  offspring  of  drunkards, 
than  the  drunkards  themselves.  These  latter  cases 
are  not  usually  charged,  in  the  statistics,  to  intem- 
perance, though  they  are  the  remote  consequences 
of  it. 

The  first  attack  of  insanity  in  the  drunkard  is 
130 


FURTHER    INFLUENCE   OF   ALCOHOLICS.        131 

usually  recovered  from  under  asylum  treatment 
and  where  further  indulgence  is  prevented  ;  but 
the  patient  too  often  returns  to  his  drink  when  re- 
leased, and  subsequent  attacks  are  very  liable  to 
occur,  from  which  the  patient  is  far  less  likely  to 
recover.  Occurring  in  the  children  of  drunkards, 
the  first  attack  is  more  liable  to  be  permanent. 
Idiocy,  blindness,  deafness,  and  other  defects 
of  the  nervous  system  are  painfully  common  in  the 
children  of  the  intemperate. 

In  what  is  called  Chronic  Alcoholism,  paralysis 
from  brain  and  nerve  impairments  is  a  not  infre- 
quent occurrence.  It  takes  different  forms  as  it 
affects  different  parts,  and  usually  indicates  such 
an  advanced  and  extreme  state  of  alcoholic  poison- 
ing as  renders  recovery  very  rare.  Fits  of  apoplexy, 
often  speedily  fatal  in  the  first  paroxysm,  and 
almost  inevitably  so  when  repeated,  are  another 
result  of  intemperance  ;  and  when  partial  recovery 
takes  place,  brain  impairment  remains,  frequently 
accompanied  by  palsy.  Epilepsy  is  another  dis- 
ease of  the  brain  and  nervous  system  sometimes 
produced  by  alcoholism. 


132        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

The  term  Inebriety,  or  Dipsomania,  is  applied  to 
a  condition  in  which  the  subject  of  it  is  supposed 
to  be  incapable  of  self-control,  and  is  given  up  to 
periodical  or  constant  drunkenness. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  of  the  question 
as  to  whether  this  state  should  be  considered  a  dis- 
ease, or  a  vice.  That  it  is  a  disease  or  a  morbid 
state  of  the  nervous  system,  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able doubt,  but  it  is  a  disease  produced  by  alcoholic 
indulgence,  and  that  indulgence,  while  controllable 
and  in  view  of  its  probable  effects,  must  be  consid- 
ered as  a  vice. 

Theologians  generally  consider  drunkenness  in 
all  its  forms  as  a  vice,  and  there  seems  ground  for 
this  opinion  in  the  Scriptural  declaration,  "  No 
drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 
But  in  the  case  of  the  confirmed  dipsomaniac  the 
sin,  if  sin  there  be,  was  committed  before  disease 
had  rendered  the  person  irresponsible  —  before  the 
brain  became  so  diseased  as  to  deprive  the  victim 
of  self-control. 

But  whether  it  should  be  called  a  disease  or  a 
vice,  it  is  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  nervous 


FURTHER    INFLUENCE   OF    ALCOHOLICS.        133 

system  ;  the  tendency  to  the  condition  often  being 
hereditary  —  generally  from  alcoholic  indulgence 
in  parents — but  developed  into  the  actual  morbid 
state  by  the  indulgence  of  the  individual. 

Whether  a  disease  or  a  vice,  it  is  very  difficult  of 
cure,  and  if  temporarily  relieved,  either  by  physical 
or  moral  means,  it  is  exceedingly  liable  to  return, 
and  result  in  moral  and  physical  death. 

Space  fails,  and  the  object  of  this  work  does  not 
require  that  all  the  diseases  which  alcohol  is  cap- 
able of  inflicting  should  be  even  mentioned,  much 
less  dwelt  upon.  But,  after  all,  it  should  be  under- 
stood that  by  far  the  most  frequent  evil  effects  of 
alcohol  do  not  consist  in  the  production  of  special 
diseases  peculiar  to  itself,  but  in  a  general  perver- 
sion and  lowering  of  vitality  which  renders  one 
more  subject  to  diseases  of  various  kinds,  and 
causes  diseases  and  accidents  to  be  more  fatal.  In 
all  reports  of  the  causes  of  deaths,  the  different  dis- 
eases and  accidents  are  named,  but  the  alcoholism 
which  rendered  them  fatal  is  not  mentioned  ;  and 
even  when  the  disease  and  death  are  caused  by  the 
alcoholism  alone,  the  truth  and  the  warning  ex- 


134        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

ample  are  sacrificed  to  what  are  regarded  as  the 
proprieties  of  the  occasion  —  a  sentiment  of  re- 
spect for  the  dead  and  the  feelings  of  friends.  In 
public  reports  alcohol  and  alcoholism  do  not  receive 
a  tithe  of  credit  or  responsibility  for  the  evils  they 
accomplish. 

But  as  the  last  subject  of  these  articles  on  the 
action  of  alcohol  on  the  brain  and  nervous  system, 
I  shall  endeavor  to  notice  some  of  the  effects  of  its 
shorter,  more  moderate  use  upon  the  mind  and 
body. 

In  some  of  these  cases  of  habitual  tippling,  as 
distinguished  from  drunkenness,  only  functions  or 
actions  are  perceptibly  changed,  while  in  others  the 
structure  of  the  brain  and  nerves  is  more  or  less 
profoundly  affected. 

Often  among  the  first  symptoms  will  be  observed 
a  perversion  of  moral  sentiment.  There  will  at 
least  be  an  indifference  to  the  dangers  of  drink  and 
a  general  recklessness  of  conduct.  This  is  a  natu- 
ral result  of  the  narcotic,  benumbing  influence  of 
the  poison.  There  are  apt  to  be  improvidence, 
sensuality,  an  absence  of  restraint  of  the  lower  pas- 


FURTHER    INFLUENCE    OF    ALCOHOLICS.        135 

sions,  malfeasance  in  office,  unfaithfulness  to  trusts, 
indifference  to  the  feelings  and  claims  of  parents, 
wife  and  children,  and  disregard  of  the  advice  of 
friends.  There  will  generally  be  noticed  unsteadi- 
ness of  the  hands,  and  often  of  the  movements  of 
the  lower  extremities,  inquietude,  especially  if  the 
doses  be  not  regularly  increased,  want  of  refresh- 
ing sleep,  at  first  fitful,  but*  often  more  constant, 
particularly  when  the  accustomed  amount  is  dimin- 
ished or  withdrawn;  and  now  the  general  appear- 
ance and  expression  of  an  habitual  drinker  appear. 
The  irregular  motions  can,  for  a  time,  be  restrained 
by  a  decided  effort  of  the  will.  They  are  worst  in 
the  morning,  especially  when  the  sleep  has  been 
broken,  but  are  steadied  by  food  and  the  usual 
dram.  Headache,  buzzing  in  the  ears,  irritability 
of  temper,  cloudiness  before  the  eyes,  and,  in  more 
severe  cases,  flashes  of  light  and  various  hallucin- 
ations may  follow.  There  are  uncertainty  of  pur- 
pose, mental  instability,  though  sometimes  dogged 
obstinacy,  feelings  of  dread  but  without  the  purpose 
to  avoid  evil  or  danger. 

Partial  paralysis  of  the  nerves  which  cause  con- 


136         TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF    SCIENCE. 

traction  of  the  bloodvessels  of  the  face,  consequent 
enlargement  of  these  vessels,  and  redness  and  erup- 
tions of  the  face  are  common.  There  is  foulness 
of  the  breath,  not  so  much  from  the  simple  smell 
of  the  alcohol  passing  off,  as  from  its  vapor  changed 
in  character  and  mingled  with  effete  and  decom- 
posing matter  from  the  system;  and  if  a  strong 
odor  of  tobacco  be  added  to  these,  the  effect  upon 
the  senses  and  feelings  of  others,  especially  upon  a 
wife  with  delicate  nerves,  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
describe. 

All  this  may  happen  to  a  steady  drinker  who 
would  warmly  resent  being  called  a  drunkard,  and 
whose  friends  would  feel  greatly  scandalized  by 
such  a  charge.  He  may  never  have  been  so  much 
under  the  influence  of  liquor  as  to  be  deprived  of 
self-control  or  to  become  incapable  of  doing  routine 
business.  A  temporary  abstinence  may  for  the  time 
diminish  his  capacity  or  disqualify  him  for  business, 
and  he  may  readily  persuade  himself  that  the  in- 
dulgence is  a  good,  if  not  a  necessity ;  thus  he 
floats  on  into  a  whirlpool  of  more  degraded  drunk- 
enness, or  is  prematurely  arrested  by  some  disease 


FURTHER   INFLUENCE   OF   ALCOHOLICS.        137 

rendered  fatal  by  his  condition,  or  his  powers  fall 
early  into  general  decay.  That  this  is  a  true  ac- 
count of  the  average  tippler,  few  will  deny.  , 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  "  Cannot  one  indulge  in 
the  habitual  use  of  moderate  quantities  of  alcohol 
without  all  these  results  ? "  Certainly  this  is  pos- 
sible and  the  possibility  has  been  illustrated  in 
numerous  instances.  But  is  any  one  in  health  the 
better  for  any  use  —  for  ever  so  temperate  a  use  of 
alcoholic  liquors  ?  Is  he  not  the  worse,  in  some 
degree,  for  such  indulgence  ? 

This  is  the  only  question  which  remains,  and  it 
is  one  which  must  be  determined  in  the  light  of 
the  scientific  facts  which  have  been  stated,  though 
imperfectly,  in  the  preceding  chapters ;  by  the 
general  experience,  and  by  observing  the  condi- 
tion of  abstainers  and  those  who  moderately 
indulge. 

The  essential  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  heart 
has  been  ascertained  by  mechanical  instruments 
of  precision,  and  has  been  demonstrated  to  be 
sedative  or  depressing,  and  not  stimulating.  By 
other  precise  means  it  has  been  demonstrated  that 


138        TEMPERANCE   TEACHINGS   OF   SCIENCE. 

oxidation  in  the  lungs  is  retarded  and  not  increased 
by  the  ingestion  of  alcohol  in  whatever  quantity. 
It  is  also  demonstrated  by  the  thermometer  that 
the  production  of  heat  in  the  body  is  diminished 
rather  than  increased,  though  by  its  narcotic  effect 
the  sense  of  coldness  may  be  obscured  or  over- 
come. We  determine  also  by  chemical  tests,  that 
alcohol  neutralizes  the  gastric  juice  when  present 
in  any  considerable  quantity  and  diminishes  its 
action  in  the  digestion  of  food.  It  has  also  been 
determined  by  the  lifting  of  weights  before  and 
after  alcohol  has  been  taken,  that  it  diminishes 
and  does  not  increase  muscular  power  ;  but  we 
have  no  such  positive  mechanical  and  chemical 
tests  to  determine  its  action  upon  thought  and  feel- 
ing, upon  reason  and  impulse,  upon  the  intellectual 
and  moral  operations  of  the  brain.  Of  its  effects 
in  this  respect  we  must  judge  from  our  experience 
and  our  observations  upon  functional  manifesta- 
tions, which  are  not  susceptible  of  the  same  pre- 
cise measurements  ;  and  here  conclusions  are  less 
capable  of  physical,  chemical,  and  mathematical 
demonstration.  But  these  experiences  and  obser* 


FURTHER    INFLUENCE   OF   ALCOHOLICS.        139 

vations  are  sufficient  to  prove  to  those  who  care- 
fully observe  and  correctly  infer,  that  alcohol  as  a 
beverage,  however  guarded  the  indulgence,  is  use- 
less, injurious  and  dangerous ;  that  its  apparent 
beneficial  effects  are  deceptive  while  its  injurious 
effects  are  positive.  Nothing  outside  of  physics, 
chemistry,  and  mathematics,  it  appears  to  me,  is 
more  certain,  and  nothing  in  its  bearing  upon  our 
individual,  domestic,  social  and  national  life,  is 
more  important.  If  the  views  which  have  been  ex- 
pressed are  correct,  they  should  be  disseminated, 
emphasized,  and  impressed,  especially  among  and 
upon  the  young  on  whom  the  conditions  of  the 
future  depend.  The  influence  of  physical,  chemi- 
cal and  physiological  laws  upon  intellectual,  moral 
and  social  states  is  with  every  year  becoming  better 
understood  and  more  fully  appreciated  ;  and  if  this 
effort,  the  work  of  some  occasional  hours  snatched 
from  other  engrossing  labors  and  cares,  shall  have 
the  effect  to  increase  the  knowledge  of  such  con- 
ditions and  laws,  and  improve  the  practice  in  rela- 
tion to  them,  its  object  will  have  been  accomplished, 
and  its  author  gratified. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX. 

IN  The  London  Contemporary  Review  there  ap- 
peared some  few  years  ago  a  Series  of  Articles 
on  "The  Alcohol  Question,"  prepared  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  editor  of  the  Review,  by  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  Medical  and  Scientific  men  of 
England.  The  editor  states  that  "  in  the  applica- 
tion made  to  writers  regard  was  had  only  to  the 
eminence  of  position,  as  giving  authority  to  what- 
ever views  were  expressed." 

The  most  eminent,  and  I  think  I  may  say  the 
most  able  and  popular,  gentleman  *  who  expressed 
views  favorable  to  the  use  of  moderate  quantities 
of  alcohol,  manifested  much  candor  as  well  as 
ability  in  presenting  the  subject,  and  produced  the 
most  plausible  apology  I  have  seen  in  favor  of  the 
custom  of  his  circle  in  what  he  calls  the  temperate 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  His  scientific  candor  was 
too  great  to  allow  him  to  make  broad  distinctions, 
as  some  do,  between  the  different  kinds  of  alcoholic 
drinks  —  to  praise  wine  and  beer  while  condemn- 
ing whiskey  and  brandy  —  but  he  evidently  regards 
alcohol  as  the  same  article  in  whatever  mixtures  it 
appears. 

He  entitles  his  article  "  The  Contrast  of  Temper- 
ance with  Abstinence,"  and  regards  "  Temperance  " 

*  Sir  James  Paget,  surgeon  to  the  Queen. 


144  APPENDIX. 

as  the  habitual  moderate  use  of  some  form  of 
alcoholic  drink. 

I  have  selected  this  best  argument  in  favor  of 
this  practice  for  examination  and  reply. 

In  making  this  criticism  I  shall  state  as  fully  as 
is  required  to  give  a  complete  and  fair  view  of  its 
every  argument  made  use  of  in  this  carefully  pre- 
pared article,  and  as  far  as  convenient,  in  the  exact 
language  of  the  author. 

To  these  opinions  and  arguments,  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  met,  I  ask  the  attention  of  those 
men  and  women  who  may  have  formed  opinions  as 
well  as  of  the  young  people  whose  opinions  may 
not  be  formed,  into  whose  hands  this  volume  may 
come. 

This  review  of  so  able  a  production  in  favor  of 
moderate  drinking  affords  an  opportunity  of  answer- 
ing every  objection  which  I  have  ever  heard  which 
is  worthy  of  answer  against  the  practice  of  habitual 
total  abstinence ;  and  it  seems  to  me  I  can  thus 
add  an  important  supplement  to  the  matter  in  the 
body  of  the  work.  The  article  commences  by  say- 
ing: 

All  reasonable  people  hold  Intemperance  to  be  a  hideous 
evil,  and  few  know  more  of  its  mischiefs  than  do  surgeons, 
who  see  its  baneful  influence  in  multiplying  the  injuries  due 
to  accidents  and  violence  and  in  hugely  increasing  the 
danger  and  mortality  of  operations  and  injuries  such  as  sober 
people  bear  with  impunity. 

Well  may  a  surgeon  in  London  write  thus,  who  for 


APPENDIX.  145 

years  attended  at  St.  Bartholomew's  or  any  other  of 
the  great  London  hospitals  where  daily,  and  per- 
ticularly  Monday  mornings,  crowds  of  men  and  per- 
haps even  larger  numbers  of  women  present  them- 
selves with  gashed  faces  and  heads,  and  wounds  and 
bruises  of  every  part  of  the  body  received  in 
drunken  brawls.  Most  of  the  women  receive  these 
injuries  from  drunken  husbands,  out  of  whom 
every  spark  of  gallantry  or  natural  affection  com- 
mon to  men  and  brutes  has  been  driven  by  drink. 
One  would  think  that  such  exhibitions  would  create 
a  suspicion  that  a  drink  which  habitually  produced 
such  effects  could  not  be  necessary  or  useful  even 
in  moderation. 

The  article  then  refers  to  the  statement  of  "  Tem- 
perance People  "  that  alcohol  even  in  small  quan- 
tities "is  injurious,  or  at  least  unnecessary,  and 
ought  to  be  disused,  so  that  by  overwhelming 
examples  and  custom  of  total  abstinence,  the  crime 
and  folly  of  intemperance  may  be  put  down." 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  argument  against  alco- 
hol which  the  author  has  so  frankly  stated,  is  so 
rational  that  it  ought  to  make  any  one  hesitate  in 
making  an  effort  to  break  its  force.  He  says  "  state- 
ments such  as  these  are  confidently  made."  So 
they  are,  very  confidently,  and  by  an  increasing 
throng  in  England  and  almost  every  where  ;  "  but," 
he  adds,  "  if  we  look  for  evidence  there  seems  to 
be  very  little  in  favor  of  them,  and  there  is  more 
that  inclines  the  other  way." 

This  is  merely  a  statement  of  an  opinion  which 


146  APPENDIX. 

receives  its  only  weight  from  the  source  from  which 
it  comes.  This  weight  is  diminished  by  the  state- 
ment, in  the  next  sentence,  in  which  the  author 
says,  "  the  whole  of  the  evidence  for  a  comparison 
of  the  influence  of  temperate  drinking  and  absti- 
nence on  large  bodies  of  men  is  not  sufficient  for 
a  complete  and  final  decision."  He  thinks  it  is  to 
be  settled  by  future  researches. 

It  seems  to  me  we  have  facts  enough  to  settle  it 
now,  and  in  a  different  way  from  what  our  author 
intimates.  His  observations  have  been  confined 
to  Europe  where  there  is  but  very  little  entire  absti- 
nence in  large  communities  to  compare  with  moder- 
ate drinking.  Mine,  with  I  think  many  others,  have 
been  made  most  carefully  and  fully  in  America,  and 
here  we  have  examples  of  such  communities,  where 
a  vast  majority  of  the  people  entirely  abstain;  and 
comparing  these  with  the  drinkers  among  us,  I 
believe  —  I  may  say  I  know — the  abstainers  are 
better  off  morally,  mentally  and  physically  than  the 
moderate  drinkers.  Our  observations  are  more 
conclusive,  as  they  are  positive,  while  he  acknowl- 
edges his  to  be  simply  negative.  Yet  he  says, 
according  to  the  evidence  he  has,  he  thinks  the 
habitual  moderate  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  gener- 
ally beneficial,  and  that  as  between  moderate  use 
and  abstinence  the  verdict  should  be  'in  favor  of 
the  former.  This  it  will  be  observed  is  a  mere 
expression  of  opinion  without  even  a  pretended 
scientific  basis  of  an  observed  fact. 

He  says  we  have  the  testimony  of  large  hospitals 


APPENDIX.  147 

and  life-assurance  companies  against  intemper- 
ance, as  compared  with  the  temperate  use  of  alco- 
hol, but  bearing  upon  the  question  of  the  temper- 
ate use  and  abstinence  we  have  no  statistics. 

In  this  country  there  are  life-insurance  companies 
conducted  upon  the  principle  of  abstinence,  insur- 
ing none  but  total  abstainers ;  and  I  am  informed 
that  such  companies  can  afford  decidedly  lower 
rates  than  others.  Some  of  the  largest  companies 
in  this  country  now  ask  the  question,  not  whether 
the  parties  applying  for  insurance  are  temperate, 
but  whether  they  are  abstainers  —  whether  they 
use  alcoholics  at  all.  We  may  soon  be  able  to  fur- 
nish the  author  with  the  statistics  he  needs. 

In  all  this  the  great  difficulty  is  in  drawing  the 
line  between  "Temperance"  in  the  use  of  these 
drinks  and  "  Intemperance."  This  has  never  been 
done.  True  Temperance,  in  my  estimation,  con- 
sists in  the  moderate,  proper  use  of  all  necessary, 
useful,  and  safe  articles,  and  in  the  avoidance 
of  all  hurtful,  unnecessary  and  dangerous  ones. 

The  question  comes  back  as  to  the  essential 
character  and  utility  of  alcohol  in  any  quantity  for 
ordinary  daily  use  —  of  its  being  a  good,  or  an  evil 
thing  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  generally  used. 
We  may  properly  talk  of  its  moderate  use,  but  from 
the  proofs  of  its  physiological  action  it  would  seem 
to  me  as  proper  to  speak  of  the  temperate  daily  use 
of  chloroform,  ether,  opium  or  any  other  narcotic, 
as  of  alcohol.  Our  author  says  he  thinks  that  on 
the  whole  alcoholic  drinks  in  moderation  are  use- 


140  APPENDIX. 

ful,  but  he  does  not  pretend  that  they  are  necessary 
or  safe.  All  he  here  pretends  to  say  is  that  we 
have  no  "  statistics  of  comparison  "  between  large 
numbers  who  have  never  used  alcohol  and  have  been 
born  of  abstaining  parents,  and  an  equal  number 
who  have  been  born  of  parents  who  drank  moder- 
ately, and  who  themselves  have  continued  the  prac- 
tice, while  in  other  respects  similar  conditions  were 
present.  In  England  he  has  not  found  such  num- 
bers for  comparison.  In  this  country  we  have 
plenty  of  the  material,  but  the  exact  scientific  com- 
parison is  not  easy  to  be  made.  History,  however, 
is  not  entirely  silent  on  this  subject.  The  Rechab- 
ites  compared  most  favorably  with  others  of  their 
countrymen,  and  they  were  under  a  command  and 
vow  of  perpetual  abstinence  which  for  generations 
they  observed.  Admitting  the  absence  of  accurate 
and  conclusive  statistics,  are  not  general  observa- 
tion and  experience  with  us  in  America  decidedly 
in  favor  of  abstinence  as  compared  with  indulgence 
however  moderate  ? 

Our  author  then  refers  to  the  opinions  of  medical 
men  and  speaking.for  England  he  thinks  a  majority 
favor  the  practice  of  moderate  drinking.  The  opin- 
ion of  that  majority,  if  there  is  such  a  majority,  is  not 
more  likely  to  be  right  than  the  opinion  of  our  author. 
General  custom,  acquired  tastes,  habits  and  preju- 
dices influence  the  opinions  of  medical  men  as  well 
as  those  of  others.  But  if  matters  go  on  as  they  have 
been  going  for  a  few  years  past,  that  majority  of 
English  physicians  and  surgeons  will  become  a 


APPENDIX.  149 

small  minority.  Already  a  statement  has  been 
made,  endorsed  by  a  large  portion  of  the  medical 
profession  of  Great  Britain,  to  the  effect  that  the 
only  legitimate  place  for  alcohol  is  upon  the  shelves 
of  the  apothecary  —  that  it  should  be  classed  with 
opium,  arsenic  and  other  medicines,  and  used  only 
for  modifying  diseased  action  ;  and  the  range  of  its 
applicability  to  disease  is  being  constantly  re- 
stricted among  the  more  enlightened  members  of 
the  profession,  especially  among  those  who  regard 
physiological  teaching  as  properly  influencing  medi- 
cal practice. 

Our  author  next  says,  "  We  have  some  deduc- 
tions from  physiological  observations  which  are 
supposed  to  indicate  a  mischief  in  even  habitual 
moderation  " ;  but  he  does  not  think  them  conclu- 
sive. He  thinks  the  most  that  physiology  has 
done  in  this  regard  is  to  suggest  some  of  the  direc- 
tions which  further  inquiries  should  take.  Since 
his  article  was  written  inquiries  have  taken  these 
directions  and  with  results  much  more  conclusive 
than  any  that  have  preceded. 

But  our  author  says  that  experience  alone  can 
be  trusted  for  deciding  the  practical  value  of  a 
deduction  from  physiology.  He  seems  to  admit 
that  physiology  militates  against  the  use  of  the 
most  moderate  quantities  of  alcohol.  This  we 
insist  upon  as  now  a  fairly  established  fact ;  and 
we  are  even  more  confident  in  appealing  to  the 
results  of  experience  than  to  deductions  from 
physiological  experiments.  Fifty  years  ago  it  was 


150  APPENDIX. 

generally  supposed  that  harvesting  in  this  country 
could  not  be  successfully  conducted  without  alco- 
hol. Abundant  experience  has  shown  that  the 
very  opposite  is  the  truth.  The  testimony  from 
careful  observers  in  the  British  Army  at  home  and 
abroad,  in  hot  and  colder  climates,  in  camp  or  on 
the  heaviest  marches,  is  to  the  effect  that  soldiers 
can  perform  more  labor  and  in  every  way  do  bet- 
ter without  than  with  alcohol  in  ever  so  carefully 
regulated  quantities.  The  same  fact  appeared  in 
our  late  war ;  and  in  Germany  the  opinion  has 
been  expressed  by  the  highest  professional  author- 
ity that  the  alcoholic  ration  might  advantageously 
be  replaced  by  less  injurious  articles.  In  ancient 
classical  history  we  learn  that  the  athletes  when 
preparing  for  their  feats  of  strength  and  endurance 
abstained  from  wine. 

The  author  next  says  that  this  subject  has  been 
carefully  observed  and  studied  by  but  very  few 
indeed  of  even  sensible  people;  but  that  this  very 
indifference  respecting  it  is  presumptive  evidence 
that  the  custom  which  has  been  permitted  to  go 
on  so  long,  is  not  a  bad  one.  He  says  for  many 
generations  the  use  of  alcohol  has  been  the  cus- 
tom of  a  large  majority  of  civilized  nations,  that 
there  is  a  natural  disposition  to  take  these  drinks, 
a  natural  taste  for  them,  and  in  the  absence  of 
any  clear  evidence  to  the  contrary  there  must  be  a 
presumption  that  such  a  natural  taste  has  its  pur- 
pose rather  for  good  than  for  evil. 

This  latter  argument  seems  to  be  a  favorite  one 


APPENDIX.  151 

with  those  who  sustain  the  cause  of  moderate 
drinking.  It  is  worthy  of  careful  examination. 
Why  not  say  with  equal  propriety  that  the  disposi- 
tion to  get  drunk  is  a  natural  one  with  some  per- 
sons, and  therefore  it  must  be  for  some  good  pur- 
pose ?  And  with  the  same  propriety  we  might  go 
farther  and  say,  the  disposition  to  steal,  to  lie,  or 
to  murder  is  natural  with  some  and  therefore  must 
be  for  good  rather  than  evil.  Is  the  disposition 
to  take  opium  good  for  the  Chinese  and  the 
Turks  ?  But  is  there  a  natural  disposition  to  take 
alcohol,  aside  from  the  sensations  which  experi- 
ence shows  it  excites,  and  aside  from  the  habit  it 
induces  ?  Heredity  undoubtedly  has  an  influence 
in  determining  tastes  and  inclinations,  but  are 
hereditary  influences  always  good  ?  The  sins  of 
the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children. 

The  love  of  alcohol,  or  a  capability  of  having  a 
love  for  it  excited,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  human 
race.  It  can  readily  be  developed  in  other 
animals.  Is  this  an  indication  that  they  need 
it  ?  Dr.  W.  Landon  Lindsay  of  Scotland  says 
(British  6°  foreign  Medico  Chirurgical  Review,  Jan- 
uary, 1874.)  :  "  Drunkenness  is  by  no  means  in- 
frequent in  certain  animals,  such  as  the  monkey, 
elephant,  horse,  dog,  rat,  the  common  fowl  and 
several  other  birds.  They  readily  acquire  a  taste 
for  ardent  spirits  and  are  as  apt  as  man  to  com- 
mit excesses  and  suffer  from  the  natural  results. 
The  general  phenomena  of  alcoholism  in  the  lower 
animals  are  precisely  the  same  as  in  man." 


152  APPENDIX. 

M.  Magna  of  Paris  reported  cases  of  alcoholism 
produced  in  dogs  by  long  continued  doses  of  alco- 
hol soon  voluntarily  taken,  and  Dr.  Binz  of  Bonn, 
whose  observations  were  reported  in  the  Athenceum 
of  October,  1873,  has  also  studied  the  action  of 
alcohol  in  warm-blooded  animals,  and  all  testify 
that  the.  animals  soon  form  the  habit  —  the  desire 
from  use  —  for  taking  this  substance,  and  that  it 
produces  the  same  effects  upon  them  as  upon 
men. 

If  Nature  is  so  wise  and  provident  as  to  give  us 
and  all  animals  only  propensities,  or  susceptibili- 
ties of  propensities  which  are  for  our  good,  she 
ought  to  have  gone  a  little  farther  and  given  us  all 
the  propensity  to  stop  when  we  had  just  enough 
of  the  good.  She  has  somehow  failed  in  this 
respect  both  with  men  and  animals. 

The  fact  that  animals  readily  acquire  a  taste 
for  alcohol  and  crave  its  effects  would  seem  to 
prove  that  it  is  as  natural  and  proper  for  them  as 
for  men.  Will  any  one  contend  that  horses  and 
dogs  would  be  better  for  taking  alcohol  daily  in 
any  quantity  however  "  moderate  ?  " 

Horses  have  been  given  whiskey  before  com- 
mencing a  race,  but  horses  so  treated  get  beaten. 
Good  jockeys  do  not  resort  to  this  practice. 

This  whole  argument  about  the  "natural  taste," 
indicating  that  alcohol  is  useful,  is  a  simple  fallacy  ; 
and  its  frequent  use  by  those  who  discuss  this  sub- 
ject shows  the  weakness  of  the  side  of  the  ques- 
tion it  is  so  often  brought  forward  to  sustain. 


APPENDIX.  153 

The  distinguished  author  dwells  upon  the  fact 
of  general  custom,  and  its  presumptive  evidence 
that  the  indulgence  is  right  and  best.  This  I  have 
shown  proves  too  much,  as  it  would  justify  every 
prevailing  evil ;  but  if  we  can  change  the  general 
custom,  which  we  hope  in  time  to  do  even  in  Eng- 
land, and  establish  the  custom  of  total  abstinence, 
the  argument  of  general  custom  will  be  on  the 
other  side,  and  there  will  be  the  additional  argu- 
ment, infinitely  the  more  powerful,  of  the  improved 
condition  in  all  which  will  follow. 

The  next  argument  of  the  essay  is,  that  in  a 
comparison  of  the  Western  nations  of  the  Eastern 
Continent  with  the  Eastern  of  that  Continent  — 
the  former  using  more  alcohol  and  the  latter  less 
—  the  superiority  is  with  the  Western  Nations. 

It  is  true  that  Europeans  are  more  advanced 
in  civilization  than  Asiatics  —  that  Englishmen 
amount  to  more  on  the  whole  than  Arabs,  Turks, 
Hindoos,  or  Chinamen.  But  is  this  superiority 
due  to  the  use  of  alcohol  ?  Might  we  not  as  well 
say  it  is  due  to  the  English  fog  or  the  Scotch 
mist,  or  what  all  Englishmen  and  Scotchman 
dread,  the  east  wind  ?  Or  may  not  this  superior- 
ity of  Englishmen  be  due  to  the  gout  ?  This  they 
have  which  the  Eastern  peoples  have  not. 

There  are  scores  of  other  things  that  make  the 
difference.  Climate,  race,  religion,  institutions, 
general  habits,  education,  moral  and  intellectual 
influences  —  everything  is  different.  More  par- 
ticular inquiries  should  be  made.  Are  English* 


154  APPENDIX. 

men  better  in  India  for  taking  alcohol  there  ?  Or 
do  the  Indians  improve  by  taking  it  ?  The  uni- 
versal testimony  is  that  when  the  Indians,  East  or 
West,  take  alcohol  they  do  worse.  The  English 
army  surgeons  in  India  bear  decided  testimony  to 
the  injurious  effects  of  alcoholic  rations  on  soldiers 
there. 

Besides  the  Turks  and  others  though  they  do 
not  take  wine  or  spirits,  take  opium  and  tobacco 
largely.  The  opium  habit  is  a  more  inveterate 
habit  than  the  alcoholic,  and  more  likely  to  be 
carried  to  a  degrading  excess.  Alcohol  is  but  one 
of  the  narcotics  for  which  men  develop  a  craving, 
and  which  they  take  to  their  injury. 

If  the  prevalent  daily  use  of  alcohol  in  England 
proves  it  a  good,  the  same  prevalent  use  of  opium 
in  Turkey  and  China  would  prove  that  a  good. 

Our  author  is  frank  enough  to  say  in  comparing 
Eastern  and  Western  nations:  "It  may  not  be 
positively  asserted  that  the  alcohol  does  this  good 
(to  the  Western  nations),  it  may  be  due  to  many 
other  things,''  but  he  thinks  the  influence  of  alco- 
hol should  not  be  excluded.  It  will  be  observed 
that  this  is  all  mere  opinion,  and  that  general 
opinions  are  influenced  and  moulded  by  other 
things  than  scientific  facts. 

The  author  next  compares  the  people  of  North- 
ern Europe  with  those  of  Southern  Europe,  and 
the  superiority  is  found  to  be  with  the  North.  He 
says  what  may  be  true,  that  they  use  more  alcohol 
in  the  North  than  in  the  South.  This  he  regards 


APPENDIX.  155 

as  another  argument  in  favor  of  alcohol.  But  let 
us  look  at  this  in  the  light  of  the  previous  state- 
ments of  our  author.  It  is  the  moderate  use  of 
alcohol  that  he  pleads  for.  In  the  South  of 
Europe  the  masses  of  the  people  use  alcohol  mod- 
erately. They  use  native  wines,  weak  in  alcohol, 
but  they  take  their  flask  or  two  every  day,  and  I 
presume  about  the  quantity  our  author  would  con- 
sider best.  The  average  man  takes  quite  as  much 
as  our  temperate  author  indulges  in,  as  I  believe 
he  takes  not  more  than  two  or  three  small  glasses 
and  those  only  or  chiefly  at  meal  time. 

In  the  north  of  Europe  ardent  spirits  are  much 
more  used,  and  in  quantities  all  consider  in  excess, 
as  drunkenness  and  alcoholism  are  very  common. 

Large  numbers  of  the  Swedes  and  others  are 
miserable  drunken  people,  and  all  the  horrors  of 
intemperance  are  very  much  more  common  than  in 
Southern  Europe.  Still  as  a  body  the  Northern 
people  are  more  vigorous  than  the  Southern. 
This,  according  to  the  reasoning  I  am  criticising, 
would  be  an  argument  in  favor  of  excess  over 
moderation.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  this 
excess  of  the  North  is  the  reason  of  its  superiority 
over  the  South,  whatever  that  superiority  may  be. 

This  excess  is  denounced  by  our  author  as  a 
"hideous  evil."  The  inconsistency  of  this  reason- 
ing need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  Our  author  himself 
seems  to  see  it,  for  he  adds  respecting  this  com- 
parison of  the  North  and  the  South  :  "  Doubtless 
in  all  these  cases  the  result  may  depend  more  on 


156  APPENDIX. 

other  conditions  than  on  the  use  of  alcohol ^  possi- 
bly it  may  be  in  spite  of  alcohol,  but  we  have  no 
right  to  imagine  it."  Now  it  seems  to  me  that  we 
have  not  only  "  a  right  to  imagine  it,"  but  that  we 
have  a  right  to  assert  that,  according  to  every 
principle  of  reason  and  common  sense  —  and  ac- 
cording to  the  reasoning  of  the  author  himself,  to 
other  causes  than  the  use  of  alcohol  this  superior- 
ity of  the  North  must  be  due.  The  presumption 
is  that  while  alcohol  is  used  in  great  excess  by 
many,  after  all  greater  numbers  of  the  people 
use  it  but  seldom  or  not  at  all,  while  in  the  South 
nearly  all  use  it  moderately  and  constantly,  and  it 
may  turn  out  that  this  moderate  use,  by  its  being 
more  general,  is  the  greater  of  the  evils.  The 
Northern  people  are  recruited  largely  from  an 
unalcoholized  stock,  while  in  the  South  there  are 
none  unalcoholized  from  which  to  recruit,  though 
they  are  affected  in  a  moderate  degree.  I  do  not 
say  that  this  is  the  explanation  of  the  alleged 
superiority  of  the  Northern  people,  but  it  seems  to 
me  a  more  rational  view  than  that  suggested  by 
our  author.  Indeed  the  permanent  superiority  of 
the  Northern  people  may  be  questioned.  It  is 
not  long  since  Italy  was  the  headquarters  and  very 
fountain  of  civilization.  But  bad  institutions,  and 
possibly  the  general  use  of  wine,  rather  than  a 
want  of  whiskey,  have  had  an  unfavorable  in- 
fluence on  her  people,  and,  in  accordance  with 
some  general  laws  which  we  may  not  understand, 
decay  has  followed. 


APPENDIX.  157 

The  article  next  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  com- 
parison in  favor  of  moderation  is  burdened  by 
the  inclusion  of  the  intemperate  among  the  mod- 
erate. That  is  not  the  case  to  any  large  extent  in 
Italy ;  but  it  is  a  serious  embarrassment  in  Great 
Britain  and  all  Northern  Europe,  in  the  United 
States  and  most  other  countries  where  alcohol  is 
used,  that  the  intemperate  must  be  included  with, 
and  cannot  be  separated  from,  the  more  moderate 
drinkers.  No  clear  line  of  demarkation  can  be 
drawn ;  they  shade  off  into  each  other,  and  in  a 
large  proportion  of  cases  intemperance,  in  greater 
or  less  degrees,  follows  moderate  drinking.  In  the 
nature  of  the  case,  from  the  ordinary  action  of 
alcohol  which  creates  an  appetite  and  a  habit, 
that  in  a  certain,  and  apparently  increasing  pro- 
portion of  instances,  demand  more  and  more  of 
the  narcotic  until  "  excess "  is  clearly  attained, 
moderation  and  intemperance  will  bear  an  inti- 
mate relation  to  each  other  that  cannot  be 
changed.  This  is  our  contention. 

This  is  the  chief  reason  why  "Temperance 
People"  labor  so  earnestly  to  prevent  moderate 
drinking.  It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that 
"  moderation  "  and  "  excess  "  which  we  believe  to 
be  but  different  degrees  of  one  evil,  cannot  be 
divorced  from  each  other,  certainly  in  a  great 
number  of  instances,  and  the  line  of  demarkation 
has  never  been  clearly  drawn  between  them. 

Our  author  says,  if  such  a  separation  could  be 
made  —  "if  the  shortened  lives  and  damaged 


158  APPENDIX. 

health,  the  idleness  and  bad  work  of  the  drunk- 
ard, and  all  the  miseries  entailed  upon  their  chil- 
dren could  be  excluded  from  the  reckoning,"  a 
much  better,  or  a  less  evil  showing  could  be  made 
for  the  moderate  use  of  these  beverages.  This 
must  be  admitted,  but  it  does  not  prove,  or  tend  to 
prove,  that  moderate  use  is  better  than  abstinence. 
It  would  only  prove  that  moderation  is  not  as  bad 
as  drunkenness. 

The  article  next  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Knowing  as 
we  do  the  mischiefs  that  are  transmitted  through 
inheritance  from  the  intemperate  it  is  hardly  con- 
ceivable that  if  moderation  were  in  any  degree 
mischievous  its  evils  should  not  by  this  time  (after 
a  lapse  of  more  than  a  thousand  years)  have  be- 
come very  evident.  The  accumulated  evils  of 
thirty  generations  of  men  given  to  moderate  drink- 
ing should  now  be  notable."  But  to  all  hygienic 
evils  there  are  counteracting  agencies  or  the  race 
would  long  ago  have  become  extinct.  The  evils 
of  drinking,  however,  are  not  entirely  counter- 
acted. When  we  take  into  account  the  number 
of  drunkards  and  semi-drunkards  in  Great  Britain, 
the  number  of  families  among  the  nobility  and 
others  that  have  become  extinct  or  degenerated, 
the  number  of  cases  of  gout  and  other  diseases 
entailed,  it  seems  to  me  the  evils  are  sufficiently 
notable.  He  thinks  the  evils  of  moderation,  if 
they  existed,  should  have  risen  in  thirty  genera- 
tions to  the  level  of  two  generations  of  excess. 
He  says,  a  very  few  generations  of  excess  extin- 


APPENDIX,  159 

guish  a  family  —  that  "  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  healthy  family  after  three  generations  of  drunk- 
ards." This  is  undoubtedly  true.  The  families 
of  the  drunkards  are  thus  eliminated;  they  die 
out,  and  the  drunkenness  existing  is  chiefly  an  in- 
heritance from  the  moderate  drinkers. 

In  all  conscience,  are  there  not  evils  enough 
fairly  traceable,  on  scientific  principles,  to  "  mod- 
erate "  drinking  to  be  noticeable  ? 

The  one  item  of  gout,  according  to  Dr.  Garrod, 
always  due  to  the  use  of  alcohol  either  in  the  in- 
dividual or  his  ancestors,  with  the  amount  of 
suffering  it  inflicts  and  of  other  diseases  it  induces 
would  seem  to  be  quite  sufficient  to  be  noticeable. 
But  however  it  may  have  been  with  the  extremes 
of  society,  with  the  aristocracy  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  poor  and  degraded  on  the  other,  who  are 
constantly  dying  out,  and  are  recruited  upwards 
and  downwards  from  the  middle  class,  there  are 
many  in  England  that  have  not  been  constant 
drinkers.  Many  at  least  have  drunk  so  little  as 
not  to  be  materially  affected  by  it  in  any  way,  and 
various  conservative  and  correcting  influences 
have  kept  the  race  as  it  is.  And  as  it  is,  it  will  re- 
quire a  long  time  of  effort  to  overcome  the  accumu- 
lated hereditary  force  which  has  so  far  baffled  all 
efforts  at  extinguishing  the  intemperance  so  prev- 
alent in  Great  Britain  and  this  country. 

The  next  consideration  that  is  presented  is 
this :  "  That  there  is  a  want  of  sufficient  apprecia- 
tion of  the  different  effects  of  a  large  and  a  small 


l6o  APPENDIX. 

quantity  of  the  same  substance."  He  refers  to 
quinine  and  arsenic  and  other  substances  as  pro- 
ducing bad  effects  in  large  doses,  and  beneficial 
ones  in  smaller  quantities.  This  all  physicians 
understand,  but  they  also  understand  that  these 
articles  when  useful  do  good  only  in  disease,  by 
modifying  morbid  action,  but  when  given  to 
people  in  any  appreciable  quantity  when  in  health, 
and  especially  if  long  continued,  they  do  harm. 

It  is  proper  that  alcohol  should  be  placed  where 
this  last  remark  of  our  author  places  it,  with 
quinine  and  arsenic  and  opium,  as  a  medicine  or 
poison,  and  not  an  article  of  diet  for  daily  con- 
sumption. It  is,  like  these  other  articles,  a  medi- 
cine or  a  poison  according  to  its  use.  The  well 
need  no  medicine,  and  only  a  suicide  should  be 
eager  to  take  poisons. 

The  next  remark  is  that  "  further  study  of  the 
matter  by  competent  and  calmly-minded  scientific 
persons  will  discover  many  facts  concerning  the 
use  of  alcohol  which  will  lead  to  the  remedy  of 
such  harm,  as  even  in  moderation  it  may  do  to 
some  persons,  or  to  whole  races  of  men,  and  may 
lead  to  its  use  being  better  directed  and  limited 
than  in  our  present  customs." 

If  the  use  of  alcohol  is  to  continue  it  is  devoutly 
to  be  wished  that  some  means  for  mitigating  its 
evils  may  be  discovered. 

But  I  have  little  faith  in  any  such  discovery. 
Physiological  laws  will  remain  the  same,  and  his- 
tory will  repeat  itself.  As  long  as  drinking  cus- 


APPENDIX.  l6l 

toms  continue  intemperance  will  abound,  and  the 
only  effectual  remedy  will  be  the  destruction  of 
the  custom. 

The  essay  is  concluded  by  a  reference  to  the 
view  that,  "  admitting  that  the  moderate  use  of 
alcohol  is  innocent  and  may  in  some  cases  be 
useful,  yet  we  ought  not  to  advocate  and  practice 
its  use  because  of  the  evil  that  may  thereby  be 
done  to  some. 

"  Here  "  our  apparently  perplexed  author  says, 
"  I  can  only  doubt." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  his  and  many  other  good 
men's  doubts  (for  I  believe  the  author  to  be  not 
only  an  eminently  scientific  but  an  eminently  good 
man)  on  this  subject  as  to  duty  may  be  removed. 

St  Paul  said,  "  If  meat  make  my  brother  to  of- 
fend "  —  to  go  astray  —  "I  will  eat  no  flesh  while 
the  world  standeth,  lest  it  cause  my  brother  to 
offend.  We  may  not  all  be  worthy  to  follow  this 
example  ;  and  one  may  well  doubt  whether  an 
ordinary  sinner  is  called  upon  to  sacrifice  a  good 
to  himself  for  the  sake  of  others.  It  is,  however,, 
a  noble  sentiment  which  has  inspired  saints,, 
patriots  and  philanthropists.  There,  however, 
can  be  no  hesitancy  in  advising  that  an  evil  should 
be  abandoned  for  the  good  of  humanity. 

Our  author  adds,  apparently  to  soothe  his  mind 
in  his  doubt,  "  I  should  think  that  in  this  as  in 
other  things  lawful,  yet  tempting  to  excess,  the 
discipline  of  moderation  is  better  than  the  disci- 
pline of  abstinence." 


l62  APPENDIX. 

When  this  was  written  I  fear  the  writer  did  not 
consider  the  seductive  character  of  narcotic  indul- 
gence to  many,  and  was  not  mindful  of  the  peti- 
tion which  I  think  he  frequently  offers,  "  Lead  us 
not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil." 

As  our  author  comes  to  the  close  of  his  argu- 
ment we  find  this  extraordinary  passage  which  I 
would  be  glad  not  to  mention  for  fear  it  may 
throw  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  some  on  his  calm- 
ness of  judgment.  He  says :  "  It  is  certain  that 
we  have  no  facts  at  all  by  which  to  estimate 
whether  the  whole  benefits  of  moderation,  or  the 
whole  possible  benefits  or  evils  of  total  abstinence, 
or  the  whole  sure  evils  of  intemperance  would  be 
the  greater."  If  I  understand  this  it  declares  that 
we  have  no  facts  to  determine  which  is  the  greater, 
the  possible  evils  of  total  abstinence  or  the  whole  "• 
sure  evils  of  intemperance.  This  is  a  very  strange 
statement  to  an  American  who  has  observed  total 
abstinence  in  many  thousands  of  cases  and  experi- 
enced it  in  his  own  person  for  a  long  life  without 
perceiving  anything  that  would  create  a  suspicion 
of  an  injury,  but  only  good  arising  from  it.  I 
need  make  no  farther  reply  to  this  statement,  and 
I  would  not,  for  the  sake  of  the  author,  have  re- 
corded it,  had  I  not  proposed  to  notice  all  the 
propositions  of  the  article.  As  a  final  statement 
allusion  is  made  to  the  question  as  to  what  is  mod- 
eration in  the  use  of  alcohol,  but  no  reply  is  at- 
tempted. He  however  asks  how  to  define  what  is 
moderation  in  eating  bread,  or  in  wearing  jewelry, 


APPENDIX.  163 

in  hunting,  or  in  the  use  of  the  language  of  cour- 
tesy. And  among  his  last  statements  our  author 
says,  "  It  is  as  unreasonable  to  require  temperate 
drinkers  to  give  up  alcohol  as  it  would  be  to  urge 
honest  people  to  cease  to  gain  money  because 
there  are  some  misers,  thieves,  and  swindlers." 

To  those  who  may  think,  after  our  discussion, 
that  these  cases  are  parallel,  I  have  nothing  farther 
to  say. 

The  assumption  of  this  parallelism,  and  that  the 
moderate  use  of  alcohol  is  beneficial,  and  that 
total  abstinence  is  possibly  as  great  an  evil  as 
drunkenness,  is  much  more  than  begging  the 
question  at  issue. 

It  may  be  asked,  Is  this  all  that  can  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  practice  of  alcohol  drinking  ?  It  is 
all  that  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  England  says  in 
an  elaborate  article  addressed  to  the  English  pub- 
lic and  the  world,  and  is  as  good  an  argument  as 
can  be  made  on  the  side  of  the  question  which  it 
attempts  to  sustain.  I  have  given  the  substance 
of  the  whole  article,  and  if  the  arguments  have 
been  fairly  met  and  answered,  the  question  so  far 
as  this  comparison  of  "  Temperance  "  and  "  Absti- 
nence "  is  concerned  is  ready  for  a  decision. 


Educational  Classics, 


Under  this  general  title  we  shall  publish  from  time  to  time 
translations  and  reprints  of  books  that  have  contributed  so  much 
toward  the  solution  of  educational  problems  as  to  make  them  indis- 
pensable to  every  teacher's  library.  The  first  volume  in  the 
.series  is 

Extracts  from  Rousseau's  Em  He. 

Containing  the  Principal  Elements  of  Pedagogy.  With  an  Introduc- 
tion and  Notes  by  JULES  STEEG,  Paris,  Depute  de  la  Gironde.  Trans- 
lated by  ELEANOR  WORTHINGTON,  recently  of  the  Cook  County  Normal 
School,  111.  I2mo.  Cloth.  157  pp.  Mailing  price,  80  cts.;  Intro- 
duction price,  75  cts. 

"There  are  fifty  pages  of  the   Emile  that  should  be  bound  in  velvet  and 
gold."  —  VOLTAIRE. 

M.  Jules  Steeg  has  rendered  a  real  service  to  French  and  Ameri- 
can teachers  by  these  judicious  selections  from  Rousseau's  Emile. 

"  Emile"  is  like  an  antique  mirror  of  brass, — it  reflects  the 
features  of  educational  humanity  no  less  faithfully  than  one  of  more 
modern  construction.  In  these  few  pages  will  be  found  the  germ  of 
all  that  is  useful  in  present  systems  of  education,  as  well  as  most  of 
the  ever-recurring  mistakes  of  well-meaning  zealots. 

The  eighteenth  century  translations  of  this  wonderful  book  have 
for  many  readers  the  disadvantage  of  an  English  style  long  disused. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  attempt  at  a  new  translation  may  at  least  have 
the  merit  of  being  in  the  dialect  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  may 
thus  reach  a  wider  circle  of  readers. 


G.  Stanley  Hall,  Prof,  of  Peda- 
gogy >  Johns  Hopkins  Univ. :  I  have 
examined  and  shall  recommend  your 
convenient  edition  of  "Emile"  to  my 
•educational  classes. 

W.  H.  Payne,  Prof,  of  Pedagogics, 
University  of  Michigan  :  I  have 
spent  considerable  time  in  reading  the 


"  Emile  "  and  in  collating  certain  parts 
of  the  translation  with  the  original. 
Miss  Worthington  has  made  a  version 
of  real  merit ;  Rousseau's  thought  has 
been  transferred  to  English  with  great 
accuracy,  and  much  of  the  original 
grace  of  style  has  been  preserved.  The 
teachers  of  the  country  are  indebted  to 
you  for  this  invaluable  contribution  to 


D.    C.    HEATH  &    CO:S  PUBLICATIONS. 


the  literature  of  the  profession,  and  I 
trust  you  may  be  encouraged  to  per- 
severe in  this  line  of  publication. 
(Dec.  15,  1884.) 

J.  W.  Dickinson,  Sec.  of  Mass. 
Board  of  Education  :  I  most  heartily 
approve  of  Ginn,  Heath,  &  Go's  plan 
for  a  series  of  Educational  Classics,  the 
first  number  of  which,  "  Rousseau's 
Emile,"  I  have  examined  sufficiently  to 
convince  me  that  it  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  every  teacher  in  the  state. 

Francis  W.  Parker,  Prin.  Cook 
Co.  Normal  School :  A  valuable  addi- 
tion to  educational  literature.  Teach- 
ers need  to  go  back  to  the  man  who 
gave  such  an  immense  impulse  to  re- 
form in  education. 

R.  H.  Quick,  in  "  Educational  Re- 
formers ":  Perhaps  the  most  influential 
book  ever  written  on  the  subject  of  ed- 
ucation. His  theory  greatly  influenced 
Basedow  and  Pestalozzi,  and  still  influ- 
ences many  educational  reformers,  who 
differ  from  Rousseau  as  much  as  our 
schoolmasters  differ  from  those  of 
Louis  XV. 

London  Journal  of  Education : 

The  amazing  originality  and  boldness 
of  the  book,  its  endless  suggestiveness, 
are  too  often  ignored  by  English  critics, 
who  forget  that  nearly  all  our  brand- 
new  theories  are  to  be  found  in 
"  Emile." 

School  Bulletin,  N.  Y. :  The 
"  Emile "  is  far  the  most  influential 
of  all  the  historically  great  books  in 
pedagogy. 

Philadelphia  Press  :  There  is  no 
need  to  praise  this  epochal  treatise  on 
education.  The  present  translation  is 
generally  admirable,  and  ought  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  every  teacher  and  parent. 


Boston  Advertiser  :  Such  a 
book  as  this  ought  to  be  read  by  every 
one  who  claims  to  be  interested  in  any 
way  in  the  cause  of  education. 

The  Chautauquan :  Probably  the 
most  suggestive  work  on  education 
ever  written  is  Rousseau's  "  Emile."  It 
is  the  work  to  which  we  owe  the  com- 
mon sense  and  the  thoughtful  training 
which  more  and  more  characterize  our 
system  of  education. 

Normal  Echo,  Lexington,  N.C.  : 
This  little  book  contains  many  gems 
that  have  shone  through  the  rubbish  of 
more  than  a  century.  Though  so  old, 
they  are  elemental  truths,  and  carry 
with  them  the  freshness  of  youth.  The 
book  should  be  read  by  all  teachers. 
It  will  prove  an  interesting  commentary 
on  the  thoughts  of  the  last  century,  and 
will  serve  to  create  a  wholesome  mod- 
esty as  to  the  excellences  of  the  present. 

Christian  Union,  N.  Y. :  The 
translation  by  Miss  Eleanor  Worthing- 
ton  is  very  well  done  indeed,  retaining 
much  of  the  charm  of  Rousseau's  in- 
comparable style. 

Normal  Advocate,  Holton,  Kas.  : 
We  have  not  examined  a  book  for  a 
long  time  that  pleases  us  so  much.  We 
know  of  no  book  that  we  would  rather 
have  every  teacher,  every  parent,  in 
America  read  than  the  "  Emile." 
(Feb.  15,  1885.) 

The  Teacher,  Philadelphia:  A 
perusal  of  this  work  will  show  some  of 
our  "  advanced  thinkers  "  how  old  all 
that  is  best  in  the  "  New  Education  "  is. 

Correspondence  Univ.  Jour- 
nal :  The  publishers  have  shown  their 
usual  sagacity  in  bringing  out  the  book 
at  this  time.  Perhaps  no  other  work 
on  education  has  had  the  influence  of 
Rousseau's  "  Emile." 

Fortnightly  Index,  Ann  Arbor :. 
By  all  means  read  the  "  Emile." 


EDUCATIONAL   CLASSICS. 


Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude. 

Translated  and  abridged  by  EVA  CHANNING.  With  an  Introduction  by 
G.  STANLEY  HALL,  Professor  of  Pedagogy  in  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
I2mo.  Cloth.  193  pp.  Mailing  price,  80  cts.;  Introduction  price,  75  cts. 

Externally,  "  Leonard  and  Gertrude  "  occupies  a  somewhat  pecu- 
liar position  in  literature,  since  it  is  neither  precisely  a  story  nor  a 
pedagogical  treatise.  It  might  rather  be  called  a  realistic  picture  of 
Swiss  peasant  life  in  the  last  century,  which,  if  not  of  absorbing 
interest,  yet  contains  much  that  is  curious  and  instructive  concern- 
ing old  manners  and  customs.  But  the  moral  value  of  the  work  is 
far  more  than  this.  In  describing  the  measures  taken  to  reform 
the  corruption  and  raise  the  moral  standard  of  the  little  village  of 
Bonnal,  the  author  expresses  his  views  on  some  of  the  greatest 
social  and  political  questions  of  all  ages.  His  opinions  and  theories 
on  educational  topics  are  scattered  incidentally  throughout  the  book. 

\Frotn  Translator's  Preface. 

This  homely  tale  was  not  written  for  the  modern  novel-reader. 
It  is  a  story  of  deep  and  ardent  love,  not  for  an  individual,  but  for 
the  wretched,  the  weak,  and  for  children.  It  is  fairly  packed 
with  incident  and  character.  The  action  is  all  intense.  More- 
over, as  a  picture  of  a  somewhat  primitive  village  community, 
the  story  is  replete  with  interest  and  instruction.  The  art,  in  a 
word,  reminds  one  of  that  of  the  large  colored  charts,  for  combined 
language  and  object  teaching,  on  the  walls  of  so  many  German 
school-rooms, — masses  of  strong  colors,  a  crowd  of  things  and 
persons,  without  attempted  art  or  unity,  but  far  truer  to  and  richer 
in  life,  for  a  child's  eye,  than  anything  in  the  art  galleries.  Unlike 
these  charts,  however,  it  has  a  purpose  which  lifts  it  far  above  these 
details  to  a  moral  plane,  the  highest  to  which  literary  art  can  attain. 
This  book  represents  the  culmination  of  Pestalozzi's  influence. 
Royal  personages  came  'to  see  him,  and  gave  him  presents.  Her- 
bart,  Fichte,  and  many  others,  lit  their  torches  at  the  fire  he  kindled 
here.  This  is  a  book  which  all  good  teachers  should  read  with 
care ;  and  having  read  it,  will  thank  the  translator  for  the  great  and 
discriminating  labor  she  has  spent  upon  the  very  voluminous  and 
intractable  original  in  converting  it  into  the  present  pleasing  form. 
\From  Introduction  by  G.  Stanley  Hall. 


The  Foundation  of  Death. 

A  Study  of  the  Drink  Question.  By  AXEL  GUSTAFSON.  American 
Copyright  Edition.  629  pp.  I2mo.  Cloth.  Mailing  price,  $2.00; 
Introduction  price,  $1.60. 

As  may  be  learned  from  the  subjoined  notices,  this  book  has 
already  been  accepted  in  England  as  the  most  complete  work  on 
the  subject  ever  published,  and  one  that  will  be  "  the  Bible  of  tem- 
perance reformers  for  years  to  come."  It  is  pronounced  the  fairest, 
most  exhaustive,  freshest,  and  most  original  of  all  the  literature  on 
the  subject  that  has  yet  appeared.  It  is  impartial  and  careful  in  its 
evidence,  fair  and  fearless  in  its  conclusions,  and  its  accuracy  is 
vouched  for  by  the  best  physiologists  and  physicians. 

The  book  was  not  made  to  prove  a  theory,  but  was  the  out- 
growth of  a  pure  and  unprejudiced  seeking  after  the  truth.  The 
drinking  habits  of  the  English  people,  as  they  were  illustrated  in 
the  streets  and  homes  of  London,  first  led  the  author  to  examine 
the  drink  question,  and  "  The  Foundation  of  Death"  is  the  outcome 
of  his  researches. 

In  preparation  for  this  work,  the  author  has  made  exhaustive  and 
impartial  researches  in  the  alcohol  literature  of  nearly  all  countries, 
having  examined,  in  the  various  languages,  some  three  thousand 
works  on  alcohol  and  cognate  subjects,  from  a  large  proportion  of 
which  carefully  selected  quotations  are  made. 

It  contains  a  bibliography  of  over  2000  works,  arranged  chrono- 
logically, and  the  works  of  each  country  separately.  As  far  as  has 
been  possible,  all  departments  of  this  study  have  been  brought  up 
to  date. 

The  scope  of  the  work,  as  to  the  variety  of  standpoints  from 
which  it  is  treated,  is  indicated  in  the  following  list  of  chapters. 

I.  Drinking  Among  the  Ancients. 
II.  The  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Distillation. 

III.  Preliminaries  to  the  Study  of  Modern  Drinking. 

IV.  Adulteration. 

V.  Physiological  Results  ;   or,  the  Effects  of  Alcohol  on  the  Phy- 
sical Organs  and  Functions. 

VI.  Pathological  Results  ;  or,  Diseases  caused  by  Alcohol. 
VII.  Moral  Results. 


D.    C.   HEATH  &    CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


VIII.  Heredity  ;   or,  the  Curse  entailed  on  Descendants  by  Alcohol. 
IX.  Therapeutics;   or,  Alcohol  as  a  Medicine. 

X.  Social  Results. 

XI.  The  Origin  and  Causes  of  Alcoholism. 
XII.  Specious  Reasonings  concerning  the  Use  of  Alcohol. 
XIII.  What  can  be  done. 


Cardinal  Manning  :  I  have  seen 
enough  of  it  to  say  that  I  know  of  no 
other  work  so  elaborate  or  so  complete. 
The  immense  mass  of  miscellaneous 
knowledge  contained  in  it  can,  so  far 
as  I  know,  be  found  nowhere  else ;  and 
the  arguments  by  which  you  prove  the 
perilous  and  pernicious  effects  of  intox- 
icating drink,  in  all  its  forms,  are,  in 
my  judgment,  irresistible. 
(Aug.  13,  1884.) 

W.  S.  Caine,  M.P.:  It  is  not  possible 
to  speak  too  strongly  of  its  great  value  to 
the  temperance  movement.  It  should 
be  in  the  library  of  every  politician  and 
social  reformer.  (Aug.  12,  1884.) 

Canon  Ellison,  Chairman  of  the 
C.  E.  T.  S. :  I  can  conceive  nothing 
better  calculated  to  awaken  enthusiasm 
in  temperance  reform  where  it  does 
not  yet  exist,  or  to  sustain  it  where  it 
does.  (Aug.  5,  1884.) 

Rev.  Newman  Hall :  The  book 
bids  fair  to  be  for  many  years  to  come 
the  text-book  of  temperance  reformers. 
(Aug.  5,  1884.) 

Samuel  Morley,  M.  P. :  The 
more  I  have  thought  on  the  subject,  the 
more  convinced  I  am  that  the  book 
will  supply  a  want  much  felt. 

Stopford  A.  Brooke  :  It  has  been 
done  with  sincere  fidelity  to  the  subject. 
In  fact,  it  is  just  what  is  wanted,—  a 
book  eminently  usable,  which  will  sup- 
ply in  portable  and  admirable  form  the 
ground-work  of  lectures,  addresses,  etc. 


Dr.  B.  W.   Richardson,   in  the 

Asclepaid :  For  a  long  time  it  will  be 
a  text-book  among  temperance  re- 
formers. 

Dr.  James  Edmunds,  Senior 
Physician,  London  Temperance  Hos- 
pital :  The  scientific  and  physiological 
data  are  very  exact  and  well  digested, 
and  I  think  it  will  prove  the  best  vol- 
ume now  before  the  public. 

Dr.  Norman  Kerr:  This  great 
work  will,  I  feel  convinced,  have  a  pro- 
found and  permanent  influence  on  the 
educated  mind,  and  on  the  public 
opinion  of  America,  Britain,  and  the 
continent  of  Europe. 

Dr.  Robert  Laird  Collier :  It  is 
an  original  and  thorough  treatment  of 
the  subject,  and  must  become  a  perma- 
nent text-book  in  the  literature  of  tem- 
perance. The  book  is  as  interesting 
as  a  novel,  and  as  instructive  as  a  treat- 
ise on  science. 

Hon.  Neil  Dow,  Portland  Me.  : 
I  have  examined  it  with  great  satisfac- 
tion. It  is  an  admirable  work,  and 
ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  everybody 
who  takes  an  interest  in  the  solution  of 
the  great  problem.  It  is  a  resume  of 
all  that  concerns  the  relation  of  alco- 
holism to  the  individual  and  to  society. 
(Sept.  3,  1884.) 

Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester,  Natick, 
Mass. :  I  regard  it  as  a  volume  of  un- 
usual value,  and  very  timely.  It  will 
command  close  study  and  be  of  great 


TEMPERANCE. 


3 


service  to  clergymen  and  other  temper- 
ance workers,  teachers  of  hygiene  and 
temperance,  and  all  who  desire  to  un- 
derstand the  alcohol  question.  It 
comprises  the  latest  scientific  data 
bearing  on  the  subject  of  alcohol. 
(Sept.  5,  1884.) 

Dr.  A.  A.  Miner,  Boston :  It  ap- 
pears to  be  a  complete  thesaurus  of 
information  on  the  drink  problem.     It 
is  a  work  of  extraordinary  value. 
(Sept.  6, 1884.) 

Rev.  M.  J.  Savage,  Boston:  It 
seems  to  me  a  sort  of  distilled  and  con- 
centrated library.  It  aims  —  and,  so 
far  as  I  am  wise  enough  to  judge,  suc- 
cessfully—  to  sum  up  the  whole  case 
for  and  against  the  use  of  alcohol.  It 
appears  to  me  impartial,  and  to  use 
strong  language  only  when  amply  war- 
ranted by  facts.  I  wish  this  work  might 
become  a  text-book  in  the  schools. 
(Aug.  29,  1884.) 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Pres. 
of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  :  Here,  at  last,  is  a  work  on  "  the 
grave  problem  of  alcohol  and  human 
life  "  which  is  exhaustive. 

The  London  Athenaeum:  It 
has,  as  far  as  we  have  tested  it,  the 
merit  of  accuracy.  Mr.  Gustafson  has 
been  fair  in  his  selections,  often  repro- 
ducing passages  which  tell  against  his 
own  convictions.  We  have  not  found 
any  important  book  omitted  from  the 
admirable  bibliography. 

The  London  School  Board 
Chronicle  :  It  would  not  be  easy  to 
overrate  the  value  of  the  work  in  the 
hands  of  the  teacher. 

Julius  H.  Seelye,  Pres.  Amherst 
College,  Mass.  :  I  find  the  book  a 


treasure-house  of  invaluable  informa- 
tion on  the  various  matters  involved  in 
what  may  be  called  the  "  Liquor  Ques- 
tion." The  remedial  treatment  of  the 
evil  is  also  amply  considered,  and  I 
wish  the  book  might  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  every  teacher. 
(Sept.  17,  1884.) 

N.  E.  Journal  of  Education: 

This  book  exhausts  the  entire  subject. 
The  author  has  come  to  his  conclusions 
with  a  force  of  reasoning  that  cannot 
fail  to  be  convincing  to  every  fair,  hon- 
est, and  unprejudiced  mind.  Its  wide 
circulation  will  produce  great  good. 

Medical  Temperance  Journal, 

London  :  We  are,  as  a  medical  journal,, 
concerned  with  those  portions  of  Mr. 
Gustafson's  masterly  production  which 
more  immediately  relate  to  chemistry, 
physiology,  and  pathology,  and  here 
his  main  conclusions  are  sound,  while 
his  deductions  are  free  from  several 
errors  which  have  appeared  in  many 
popular  books  on  the  science  of  tem- 
perance. 

John  B.  Gough  :  It  impressed  me 
with  its  fulness  of  treatment  of  the 
subject,  its  great  research  and  labor, 
its  sustained  interest,  and  variety  of 
fact  and  testimony.  I  wish  they  would 
all  read  it ;  it  leaves  nothing  to  be  said. 
(Dec.  23,  1884.) 

John  G.  Whittier :  I  have  been 
reading  with  great  interest  and  admira- 
tion Mr.  Gustafson's  masterly  work. 
It  is  a  treatise  which  entitles  him  to  a 
high  rank  as  a  scholar  and  thinker, 
and  to  a  place  among  the  great  bene- 
factors of  mankind.  (Dec.  n,  1884.) 

The  N.  Y.  Tribune :  It  is  the 
most  thorough  and  careful  study  of  the 
drink  question  that  has  appeared. 


D.    C.   HEATH  &    CO:S  PUBLICATION'S. 


Springfield  Republican :  Tem- 
perance literature  is  apt  to  be  dis- 
counted more  or  less  for  its  intensity 
and  intolerance.  It  is  refreshing  to 
read  such  a  broad,  thoughtful,  and 
learned  survey  of  the  whole  subject  as 
is  given  by  Axel  Gustafson.  An  inter- 
esting feature  of  his  book  is  the  genu- 
ine moral  earnestness  that  accompanies 
his  growing  and  more  intelligent  con- 
victions, based  upon  a  thorough,  com- 
prehensive, and  fair-minded  study  of 
the  subject  from  so  many  points  of 
view.  Whether  one  agrees  with  his 
deductions  or  not,  the  book  is  invalu- 
able as  a  comprehensive  text-book,  a 
"  study "  (in  the  best  sense  and  from 
the  English  standpoint)  which  is  as 
good  as  the  best,  a  helpful  thesaurus  of 
the  facts  and  literature  of  the  whole 
subject. 

The  Well  Spring- :  It  is  a  book 
for  the  older  members  of  the  Sunday- 
school. 

The  London  Daily  News :  It  is 
probably  the  most  comprehensive  and 
convincing  survey  of  the  drink  ques- 
tion that  has  yet  appeared. 

The  Toronto  (Can.}  Globe:  It 
is  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  and.  val- 
uable additions  to  the  literature  of  the 
alcohol  question  that  has  yet  appeared. 

The  Congregationalist,  Boston  : 
This  treatise  is  the  most  comprehensive 
and  serviceable  which  we  remember  to 
have  seen. 

The  Medical  Press,  London  : 
We  are  not  in  the  least  surprised  to 
hear  that  two  large  editions  of  this 
interesting  work  have  already  been 
sold.  It  will  ultimately  exert  a  pro- 
found influence  over  public  opinion. 


The  Christian  Register,  Boston  : 
No  such  thorough  study  of  the  drink 
question  has  ever  been  presented  in 
the  English  language. 

The  Liverpool  (Eng.)  Mercury: 
It  is,  perhaps,  the  most  perfect  sum- 
mary of  all  that  has  been  said,  or  can 
be  said,  against  the  use  of  alcohol, 
which  this  generation  is  likely  to  see. 

The  Universalist  Quarterly, 
Boston. :  We  are  persuaded  that  it  is 
the  most  complete  presentation  of  the 
different  aspects  of  the  drink  question 
ever  brought  together  under  one  title. 

The  Church  Press,  N.  Y. :  The 
present  volume  contains  the  fullest  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject  which  can  be 
found  in  any  one  book  in  the  English 
language. 

The  Daily  Telegraph,  London  : 
This  book  will  probably  be  the  text- 
book of  temperance  reformers  for  a 
considerable  period,  as  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine  the  publication  of  a  more 
conscientious  work. 

Boston  Herald :  This  is  the  first 
instance  in  which  the  subject  has  been 
treated  in  its  length  and  breadth  by  a 
competent  mind.  No  book  on  the 
drink  question,  at  once  so  catholic,  so 
practical,  so  useful,  has  before  ap- 
peared. 

Boston  Advertiser:    It    is  the 

necessary  handbook  for  all  who  have 
to  deal  with  the  drink  question,  whether 
they  incline  to  one  extreme  or  the 
other,  and  it  discusses  the  subject  with- 
out passion  or  prejudice.  It  practi- 
cally exhausts  the  subject. 


D.    C.    HEATH    &    CO.,    Publishers, 

3  TREMONT  PLACE,  BOSTON. 


Clarke  s  Astronomical  Lantern. 


Those  who  have  studied  astronomy  by  means  of  a  globe  or  atlas  know 
how  difficult  it  is  to  remember  the  exact  position  of  the  stars  while  passing 
from  the  lighted  room  out  of  doors,  to  compare  the  map  with  the  actual 
constellations.  This  difficulty  is  fully  obviated  by  our 


ASTRONOMICAL    LANTERN, 

prepared  by  Dr.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  who  has  devoted  several  years  to 
perfecting  his  invention,  and  preparing  a  Manual  to  accompany  it.  The 
LANTERN  is  of  Japanned  tin,  the  face  (6J  x  10  inches  in  size)  being  of 
ground  glass,  behind  which  lights  are  placed.  Thirty-two  constellations 
are  photographed  upon  slides  of  semi-transparent  card-board,  and  stars  of 
four  magnitudes  are  represented  by  perforations  of  proper  size.  The  maps 
have  been  prepared  under  Dr.  Clarke's  personal  supervision,  and  the  plates, 
being  photographed  from  the  original  drawings,  are  correct  in  every  par- 
ticular. The  LANTERN  can  be  used  out  of  doors,  and  the  student  can 
instantly  refer  from  the  map  to  the  heavens. 


EHOW    TO    FIND    THE    STARS: 


is  designed  to  accompany  the  lantern,  and  is  also  designed  to  help  the 
beginner  to  become  better  acquainted,  in  the  easiest  way,  with  the  visible 
starry  heavens;  to  know  the  winter  and  summer  constellations,  and  the 
principal  fixed  stars.  It  shows  the  position  of  the  constellations  at  different 
periods  of  the  year,  giving  their  place  in  each  of  the  four  seasons.  It  also 
shows  how  to  find  the  separate  clusters  by  a  series  of  triangles  and  dia- 
grams, covering  the  whole  heavens,  and  connecting  each  constellation  with 
its  neighbors.  It  indicates  the  most  interesting  objects  at  each  period  of 
the  year,  especially  such  as  can  be  found  with  a  telescope  of  moderate 
power.  It  closes  with  a  description  of  the  Astronomical  Lantern. 

The  former  price  of  the  Lantern  was  $6.00;  iue  now  offer  it,  in  improved  form, 
•with  seventeen  slides  and  a  copy  of  "  How  TO  FIND  THE  STARS,"  for  $4.50.  The 
latter  is  also  sold  separately  at  20  cents  per  copy. 

D.    C.    HEATH    &    CO.,    Publishers, 
3  TREMONT  PLACE,  BOSTON. 


D,  C.  Heath  &  Co!s  Publications. 


Sheldon 's  Short  German  Grammar $  .60 

Deutsch  's  Select  German  Reader 90 

Bo/sen 's  Preparatory  German  Prose i  .00 

Grimm's  Kinder- und  Hausma'rchen  and   Schiller's    Ballad   " Der 

Toucher" 75 

Hodges '  Course  in  Scientific  German , 

Ybarra  's  Practical  Spanish  Method 

Mitchell's  Hebrew  Lessons 

Shaler's  First  Book  in  Geology 

Teacher's  Edition  of  "      


.00 

.20 

.80 

.00 

.00 
.12 
.20 
40 


Shepard's  Elements  of  Chemistry 

Remsen  's  Organic   Chemistry 

Hall's  Methods  of  Teaching  and  Studying  History 

Allen 's  History  Topics 25 

Fisher's  Bibliography  of  Ecclesiastical  History 25 

Sheldon 's  Studies  in  Genera/  History 1.60 

Pesta/ozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude 75 

Rousseau 's  Emile 75 

Payne's  Compayre's  History  of  Pedagogy 

Clarke 's  How  to  Find  the  Stars 20 

Gustafson  's  Foundation  of  Death :   A  Study  of  the  Drink  Question  2.00 

How  to  Use  Wood-Working  Tools 50 

Guides  for  Science  Teaching  : 

I.    Hyatfs  About  Pebbles „ , 10 

II.    Goodale's  Concerning  a  Few  Common  Plants 10 

III.  Hyatfs  Commercial  and  other  Sponges 20 

IV.  Agassiz^ s  First  Lesson  in  Natural  History 25 

V.    Hyatfs  Corals  and  Echinoderms 20 

VI.  Hyatfs  Mollusca 25 

VII.  Hyatfs  Worms  and  Crustacea 25 

XII.  Crosbys   Common  Minerals  and  Rocks 25 

XIII.  Richards'  First  Lessons  in  Minerals 10 

Communications  with  regard  to  the  above  Books  should  be 
addressed  to 

D.   C.    HEATH   &   CO.,   Publishers, 

3  TREMONT  PLACE,  BOSTON. 

16  Astor  Place,  New  York.  I       85  Metropolitan  Block,  Chicago. 

(With  A.  LOVELL  &  Co.)  (With  S.  R.  WINCHELL  &  Co.) 


IN    PREPARATION, 


Com  pay  re's  History  of  Pedagogy.     Translated  by  W.  H.  PAYNE, 

Professor  of  the  Science  and  the  Art  of  Teaching  in  the  University  of 
Michigan,  who  will  add  an  introduction,  notes,  references,  and  an  index. 

It  will  supply  the  need  of  a  treatise  in  English  on  the  History  of 
Pedagogy,  brief  enough  to  be  readily  mastered,  and  full  enough  to  be 
interesting  and  fruitful,  —  a  need  that  has  long  been  recognized  and 
deplored  by  the  leading  teachers  of  the  country.  \_Ready  Feb.  I.] 

London  Journal  of  Education.  —  We  should  like  all  those  who 
still  hesitate  as  to  the  use  of  studying  the  history  of  education  to  read  M. 
Compayre's  serious  and  moderate  words  on  the  subject:  we  feel  that  few 
would  rise  from  their  consideration  inclined  to  doubt  that  the  practical 
teacher  of  to-day  will  do  his  work  all  the  better  for  knowing  how,  why, 
and  when,  it  has  been  done  before  his  time,  and  with  what  results. 
*  *  *  * 

We  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  M.  Compayre's  book,  and  can  conscien- 
tiously recommend  it  for  its  matter  and  method  as  one  of  the  few  available 
on  the  interesting  history  of  pedagogy. 

Methods  of  Teaching  and  Studying  Ancient  Languages  and 

Literature.      Edited  by  G.  STANLEY  HALL,  Professor  of  Pedagogy  in 
Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Methods  of  Teaching  and  Studying  Natural  Science.  Edited 
by  G.  STANLEY  HALL. 

Methods  of  Teaching  and  Studying  Reading,  English  Liter- 
ature, and  Language.  Edited  by  G.  STANLEY  HALL. 

Levana;  or.  The  Doctrine  of  Education.  A  translation  from 
JEAN  PAUL  FREDERICK  RICHTER. 

Gill's  Systems  Of  Education.  Advocated  by  eminent  education- 
alists. 

RadestOCk  's  Habit  and  Education.  Translated  from  the  German, 
by  FANNIE  L.  CASPARI,  Girls'  High  School,  Baltimore,  with  an  intro- 
duction by  G.  STANLEY  HALL. 

Montaigne  On  Education.  Translated  and  edited  by  J.  A.  MACAL- 
ISTER,  Supt.  of  Schools,  Philadelphia. 

Rosmini's  Method  in  Education.  Translated  from  the  Italian, 
by  Mrs.  WILLIAM  GREY,  London,  England. 


D.    C.    HEATH    &    CO.,    Publishers, 

3  TREMONT  PLACE,         16  ASTOR  PLACE,        85  METROPOLITAN  BLOCK, 
BOSTON.  NEW  YORK.  CHICAGO. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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